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Novaceanu Reaches Finals of Dartmouth Big Green Invitational

Andreea Novaceanu

BUFFALO, NY - For the third consecutive season, a University at Buffalo women's tennis player earned a spot in the finals of Dartmouth University's Big Green Invitational. Sophomore Andreea Novaceanu (Bucharest, Romania/Emil Racovita) played in the championship match of the tournament's A Flight as the Bulls concluded the fall slate. Players representing 18 schools competed in the three-day tournament.

Novaceanu, who captured the B Flight title as a freshman last season, fell in the championship match to Harvard's Steph Schnitter in a matchup of the top two seeds in the tournament. Novaceanu, the second seed, was defeated by top-seeded Schnitter in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to complete an incredible run as she took four matches in the three-day tournament.

Novaceanu began play with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over Stony Brook's Hana Chovanova in the opening round of 32. Her toughest match of the tournament came in the second round as she outlasted Ali Blackett of Southern Mississippi in a third-set super-tiebreaker. Novaceanu dropped the opening set to Blackett, 6-3, before reeling off six straight games to take the second set, 6-0. In the super-tiebreaker, she needed to go beyond the 10-point limit to score the 11-9 victory and move into quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals and semifinals, Novaceanu picked up a pair of straight-set wins over seeded opposition. She defeated Cornell's Mollie Edinson, the sixth seed, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals. In the semifinal contest, Novaceanu knocked off Ohio State's Sonia Ruzimovsky, the third seed, 6-1, 6-4, to set up the championship meeting against Schnitter. Schnitter did not drop a set in the tournament and Novaceanu won the most games, seven, against the Harvard sophomore.

Kristen Ortman

Senior Kristen Ortman (Amherst, NY/Amherst) also represented the Bulls in the A Flight, playing a pair of super-tiebreakers in her two matches. Ortman opened play with an upset win over fourth-seeded Barbora Blahutiakova of St. John's in a super-tiebreaker. Ortman won the super-tiebreaker, 10-7, after she won the first set, 6-3 and Blahutiakova took the second set, 6-1. Ortman wasn't as fortunate in her second-round match as she fell to Stony Brook's Anne Catherine Valle, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8) to be eliminated from the tournament. Valle was defeated in the semifinal round by Schnitter, 6-3, 6-2.

Miglena Nenova

Junior Miglena Nenova (Rousse, Bulgaria/Eurointellect), who reached the B championship as a freshman in 2003, scored a first-round win in her match against Cornell's Liyang Wang. Nenova, seeded sixth in the B Flight, defeated Wang in a super-tiebreaker, 10-8. The pair split the opening sets with Wang winning the first set, 6-2, before Nenova scored a 6-0 victory in the second set.

In her second-round match, Nenova went into another super-tiebreaker as she was knocked out by Long Island's Ashley Harvey in a marathon 12-10 decision. Nenova scored a 7-4 tiebreaker win in the first set before Harvey forced the super-tiebreaker with her 6-2 win in the second set.

The Bulls also sent a pair of doubles tandems to the tournament with both duos being eliminated in the opening round. Nenova and Natalie Dean (Feilding, New Zealand/Palmerston North) fell to eighth-seeded Katie Jaxheimer and Ann Scott of Dartmouth, 8-6. Katrin Fischer (Ternitz, Austria/Borg) and Tina Jacob (Singapore/Raffles JC) lost to Chovanova and Sandy Wijeratne of Stony Brook, 8-2.

UB returns to dual-meet competition on January 29 at Rochester to begin the spring campaign.

Dartmouth Big Green Invitational

UB results

A Flight

Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Hana Chovanova (Stony Brook), 6-2, 7-5

Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Ali Blackett (Southern Mississippi), 3-6, 6-0, 1-0 (11-9)

Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Mollie Edinson (Cornell), 6-3, 6-3

Andreea Novaceanu (UB) d. Sonia Ruzimovsky (Ohio State), 6-1, 6-4

Steph Schnitter (Harvard) d. Andreea Novaceanu (UB), 6-3, 6-4

Kristen Ortman (UB) d. Barbora Blahutiakova (St. John's), 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (10-7)

Anne Catherine Valle (Stony Brook) d. Kristen Ortman (UB), 6-4, 3-6, 1-0 (10-8)

B Flight

Miglena Nenova (UB) d. Liyang Wang (Cornell), 2-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-8)

Ashley Harvey (Long Island) d. Miglena Nenova (UB), 6-7 (4), 6-2, 1-0 (12-10)

Doubles

Katie Jaxheimer/Ann Scott (Dartmouth) d. Miglena Nenova/Natalie Dean (UB), 8-6

Hana Chovanova/Sandy Wijeratne (Stony Brook) d. Katrin Fischer/Tina Jacob (UB), 8-2