Sept. 30, 2004

The 2004 D.C. Metropolitan Championships were held this week at Georgetown University and the trophy for the top women's singles player will be coming home to Fairfax, Va. after junior Andreea Fusea won the Flight A title, defeating Georgetown's Liz Winokur, 6-1, 6-3.

Fusea, a transfer from University of Maryland, did not lose a set in the tournament. She was the No. 2 seed and after a first-round bye, she eliminate Sanda Simunic of George Washington, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Meaghan McKenna of Loyola was the next to fall, as she was down 6-0, 3-0 when she retired. That moved Fusea into the semifinals where she knocked off Jasmine Smith of Howard, 6-3, 6-3.

It was nearly and all-Mason final as Maricel Ballester lost a tight semifinal match to Winokur. They split the first two sets with Winokur winning the opener 6-0, before Ballester responded by taking the second set, 7-5. The third set, a tiebreaker, was won by Winokur, 10-5.

Ballester had already knocked out the No. 1 seed, Kendall Swenson, with a 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 win in the quarterfinals.

The other Mason player competing in the women's Flight A singles was Jenn Dektas, who was eliminated in the second round. She won her consolation match before her tournament came to an end.

Fusea and Ballester competed together in the Flight A doubles, advancing to the semifinals where Simunic and Anastasia Skravonskia of George Washington, the No. 1 seed, eliminated them, 8-5.

Also competing for the Patriots were Jamie Delorie, Natalie Oudar and Katie Slopper in the Flight B singles and Suzan Tugberk, Bridget Borley, Melissa Wooten and Jacqueline Sherbondy in the Flight C singles. Tugberk and Wooten, Borley and Sherbondy and Slopper and Oudar each teamed up in the Flight B doubles, as well.