Oct. 8, 2004

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Senior Marlene Dirnstorfer advanced to the semifinals of the A Singles Bracket at the Middle Tennessee Fall Invitational, Friday, with a pair of 6-1, 6-1 victories. Dirnstorfer downed Western Kentucky's Ieva Balcus in the first round, then defeated Belmont's Elizabeth Conyer by a similar 6-1, 6-1 score in the second round. The senior will now face UT-Martin's Sari Nortje at 11 a.m., Saturday in the first semifinal.

Also in A Singles action, sophomore Andrea Feichtinger won her opening round match, 6-2, 6-2, over April Bradley from Belmont, before falling to UAB's Julia von Sampson, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3. Von Sampson will face Middle Tennessee's Ana Maria Cibils in the other championship semifinal, Saturday.

Memphis suffered a pair of setbacks in the first round in the B Singles bracket. Freshman Brooke Cowie battled, but fell to Morehead State's Verena Baernwick, 6-4, 7-5, while junior Kristin Noble (Memphis, Tenn./Germantown) fell 6-3, 6-2 to Ball State's Haly Calderwood.

In C Singles, sophomores Christina Wieser and Alex Tjioe each suffered a first round loss. Wieser fell 6-2, 6-1 to Ole Miss' Claire Conerly, while Tjioe fell 6-0, 6-3 to Belmont's Katie Rhodes. Both will play in the consolation draw Saturday.

In D Singles, freshman Katherin Kohl went 1-1 on the opening day, winning her opening round match, 6-1, 6-1, over Chattanooga's Francesca Guerrieri. Kohl then suffered a 6-0, 6-1 setback to UAB's Antonio Nugent in the second round.

In doubles, the team of Dirnstorfer and Cowie won their opening match, 8-6, over the team of Haly Calderwood and Jennifer Pollack from Ball State, and will face the Ole Miss duo of Carlin Cochran and Claire Conerly at 1 p.m., Saturday, in the quarterfinals. The other A Doubles Memphis entrants were Feichtinger and Noble, who suffered an 8-4 setback to Chattanooga's Lindsey Ballard and Bonnie Adams in their opening round match.

The B doubles draw had just one Memphis entrant, with the duo of Tjioe and Wieser coming back from first round singles defeats to win a tiebreaker over Cumberland's Paula Guzman and Stephanie Wuenscher, 9-8 (0). They will now face Lipscomb's team of Jamie Aid and Casey Hall at 1 p.m., Saturday.

Complete Day One Memphis Results
Flight A Singles
Marlene Dirnstorfer (UM) def. Ieva Balcus (WKU), 6-1, 6-1
Marlene Dirnstorfer (UM) def. Elizabeth Conyer (Belmont), 6-1, 6-1
Andrea Feichtinger (UM) def. April Bradley (Belmont), 6-2, 6-2
Julia von Sampson (UAB) def. Andrea Feichtinger (UM), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
Flight B Singles
Verena Baernwick (Morehead State) def. Brooke Cowie (UM), 6-4, 7-5
Haly Calderwood (Ball State) def. Kristin Noble (UM), 6-3, 6-2
Flight C Singles
Claire Conerly (OM) def. Christina Wieser (UM), 6-2, 6-1
Katie Rhodes (Belmont) def. Alex Tjioe (UM), 6-0, 6-3
Flight D Singles
Katherin Kohl (UM) def. Francesca Guerrieri (UTC), 6-1, 6-1
Antonia Nugent (UAB) def. Katherin Kohl (UM), 6-0, 6-1
Flight A Doubles
Marlene Dirnstorfer/Brooke Cowie (UM) def. Haly Caldwerwood/Jennifer Pollack (Ball State), 8-6
Lindsey Ballard/Bonnie Adams (UTC) def. Andrea Feichtinger/Kristin Noble (UM), 8-4
Flight B Doubles
Alex Tjioe/Christina Wieser (UM) def. Paula Guzman/Stephanie Wuenscher (Cumberland), 9-8 (0)