Oct. 23, 2009

Cincinnati, Ohio - Courtney Collins and Ashley Murdock both picked up first round victories on Fri., Oct. 23 at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional in Cincinnati, Ohio. In doubles, Collins and Murdock won one match before being ousted in the quarterfinals.

Collins, a freshman from Fulton, Miss., upended junior Lauren Meier of the University of Kentucky, 6-4, 6-4. Meier, a native of Etowah, Ga., competed at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions for No. 25 Kentucky last season. Meier picked up a win over the nation's 120th-best singles netter at the end of last season.

Collins advances to the second round where she will face Cincinnati's Lindsey Lonergan on Sat., Oct. 24 at 10:30 a.m. Lonergan, a transfer from Michigan State, played the No. 6 position for the Spartans last season.

Murdock, a two-time All-C-USA second team selection for the Tigers, took down Indiana's Katya Zapadalova, 6-4, 7-6(9). Zapadalova was the No. 1 singles player for the 48th-ranked Hoosiers for the majority of last season.

Murdock advances to face Louisville's Mandy Brown on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. Brown was the nation's 44th-best recruit according to tennisrecruiting.net, coming out of Homestead High School in Mequon, Wisconsin.

In doubles, Collins and Murdock won their first match of the regional tournament with a win over Wright State's Marsha Peresetski and Kenisha Webb. Peresetski and Webb competed at the No. 1 doubles position for Wright State last season.

In the quarterfinal round of the doubles competition, the Memphis pair fell 8-6 to Kentucky's Megan Broderick and Caroline Lilly. Lilly and former teammate Caroline Escamilla were ranked as the No. 26 doubles duo in the nation at the end of last season. Broderick finished last year as a nationally ranked singles player.

In other action at the ITA regional, Marjorie Ondeck fell to Vanderbilt's Hannah Blatt, 6-2, 7-5. Blatt played the No. 6 position for the 22nd-ranked Commodores last season.

Also, Amanda Brown fell in the main draw with a heart-breaking three-set loss to East Tennessee State's Kelly Holtzhausen, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-2.

In other doubles action, Brown and Dara Toulch fell to Middle Tennessee's Natalie Araya and Marietta Bigus, 8-3.

Also, Andrea Arques-Garcia and Kelly Gray lost 8-4 to Purdue's Anna Dushkina and Remi Martin.

In qualifying singles yesterday, Arques-Garcia, a freshman from Alicante, Spain, fell 6-2, 6-3 to Louisville's Gabi Duncan. Kelly Gray also lost her opening round match, losing to Middle Tennessee's Taylor Coffey, 6-2, 6-3.

Action at the ITA Ohio Valley Regional will continue through Mon., Oct. 26, in Cincinnati.