Oct. 24, 2003
FAIRFAX, Va. - George Mason sent six tennis players to participate in their respective regional championships this weekend. Two men competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Region II Championships in Chapel Hill, NC, while four women battled at the ITA Eastern Regional Championships in Blacksburg, VA. The singles finalists and doubles champion from each tournament will earn spots in the Nov. 6-9 ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at the University of Michigan. Regional championships are being held at various sites across the country this weekend.
The men's Region II championship, which began Wednesday with qualifying singles and doubles competitions, is being held at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on North Carolina's campus. Tito Ballester (Lima, Peru/Winthrop), the Patriots' lone singles entrant, was knocked out of the competition Friday following his first round 6-1, 6-1 loss to the Tarheels' Raian Luchici. The 6-5 senior moves to 7-3 overall in singles matches this season.
On Thursday, Ballester and his doubles partner, junior Tim Bainton (Chobham Surrey, UK), defeated Tushar Garg and Andreas Kulscar of American 8-4 in the first round of 32, before falling to Duke's team of Peter Rodrigues and Jonathan Stokke, 8-4, in the round of 16. Bainton and Ballester are 2-2 overall on the season.
The women's Eastern championship, which began Friday, is being played at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center on the campus of Virginia Tech. All of the Patriots participating in the event were in action Friday, including sophomore Jenn Dektas (Maineville, OH/Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy), who was Mason's only singles entrant. She dropped her first round match, 6-0, 6-1 to Kristina Bothova of St. John's.
Later in the day, Dektas and her partner, junior Jamie Delorie (McMurray, PA/Peters Township/St. Francis) lost an 8-2 first round decision to the fifth-seeded duo from Maryland, Emily Marker and Marianne Baker. Dektas and Delorie drop to 2-3 on the season. Also on the slate were freshman Maricel Ballester (Lima, Peru) and her partner, junior Katie Sloper (Alexandria, VA/Bishop Ireton). They fell in the first round, 8-0, to the fourth-seeded tandem out of Harvard, Alexis Martire and Eva Wang. Ballester and Sloper move to 1-3 on the season.
Both Mason's men's and women's teams conclude their respective fall seasons at the ITA Regional Championships. The Patriot men return to competition Feb. 14 at the Navy 4+1 Tournament in Annapolis, MD, while the women must wait until Jan. 30-31 for the VCU 4+1 Tournament in Richmond, VA.
