Jaime and Kedzo named to All-Tournament Team

BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 22, 2012) – The North Florida Ospreys had to endure a relentless ETSU rally, but hung on to win an epic Atlantic Sun Championship final on Sunday, 4-2, at the Bristol Racquet Club.

UNF (16-4, 9-0 A-Sun) was up 3-0 after earning the doubles point and first two singles matches, but were put to the test when ETSU’s Paula Jaime (Madrid, Spain) and Karina Kedzo (Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela) won their respective points to bring the title contest to 3-2. The two schools’ No. 5 and No. 6 starters were left to decide the tournament, with Simona Weymar outlasting Diana Navrostska (Lviv, Ukraine) in three sets at No. 5, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.

The title is the Ospreys’ second in three-consecutive finals appearances, with each championship match coming against the Buccaneers.

ETSU (12-9, 7-2 A-Sun) nearly put together what would have been a comeback for the ages, but could not recover from the 3-0 hill UNF left the Bucs to climb. The weekend effort by Jaime and Kedzo landed the two seniors on the All-Tournament Team.

The 2012 A-Sun Championship finals started with a dominating win on court two from A-Sun All-Freshman Rebeca Pereira and Simona Weymar. The duo – which went 9-0 through A-Sun play before dropping their semifinal match against Stetson on Saturday – made sure it didn’t fall for a second-straight day by defeating ETSU seniors Kedzo and Navrostska 8-1.

Up a set in the doubles series, the Ospreys were seemingly in control of the point having already broken the Buccaneer duos on courts one and three. ETSU would not fade away without a fight, as First Team All-Atlantic Sun member Jaime and senior Marine Wieliczko (Rouen, France) came back to level the No. 1 set at 6-6, while the Bucs other First Team pick Giulia Andreazza (Balneario Camboriu, Brazil) and All-Freshman Team member Jessica Brumit (Elizabethton, Tenn.) did the same at No. 3.

Just as ETSU appeared to be mounting a huge doubles comeback, A-Sun Player of the Year Aline Berkenbrock and First Team All-Conference member Lorena Aviles held serve and broke on court one to clinch the point with an 8-6 set win. The No. 3 match went unfinished at 7-7.

In singles, First Teamer Danielle Day put the Ospreys up 2-0 by defeating Wieliczko through a hard-fought second set 6-2, 6-4. The ETSU senior was down 5-1 and rallied to bring the deciding set to within a game before Day held serve to win the point.

The top two singles matches concluded within a few minutes of each other. Aviles downed Andreazza with a strong second set effort 6-4, 6-2, just before Jaime finally put ETSU on the score board with a 6-4, 6-2 victory against the two-time A-Sun Player of the Year. Berkenbrock’s other selection came in 2010.

With the Ospreys on top 3-1, Kedzo and Aguirre entered a third set on court four, while the No. 5 match featuring Navrostska and Weymar began on court three. At the same time, ETSU freshman Kelsey Williams (Sunbury, Australia) began the No. 6 match against UNF’s All-Freshman Marina Cunningham.

Kedzo ran through the third set to win 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, leaving the fate of the 2012 Women’s Tennis Championship in the rackets of the No. 5 and No. 6 starters.

Weymar and Navrostska went to a war in the No. 5 match. Navrostska led 3-0 in both the first and second sets and watched Weymar rally to go up 4-3 in both. In the first set, Weymar continued on to take the set 6-4, but the second set saw Navrostska bounce back to reel off the final three games for her own 6-4 decision.

In the deciding third set, Weymar came out to a 4-0 lead and eventually settled the set 6-1 to clinch the championship before being rushed upon by the celebration.

Willams and Cunningham were left unfinished at No. 6, with Williams leading 7-6 (7-4), 2-3.

For more information on ETSU tennis, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the tennis links.