Tickets// FIRST SERVE
The first competition of the 2019 fall season awaits four members of the University of Cincinnati tennis program this weekend as the Bearcats will open their slate at the Purdue Invitational Friday through Sunday at the Schwartz Tennis Center in West Lafayette, Ind. The quartet of Alexia Coutino, Ioana Guna, Amanda Huser and Anna Philp are all set to play in singles and doubles action in the first of four fall events for UC in 2019.
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// QUICK SERVES
• The event at Purdue is the first of four fall competitions on the schedule for the Bearcats that will once again feature the UC/Pam Whitehead Invitational in early October
• The 2019-20 squad features seven returning players and three freshmen
• Caroline Morton and Anna Philp are the lone seniors on the roster this season
• Eric Toth is back for his fifth year in charge of the program with Katarina Adamovic back for her second season as the program's assistant coach
• Along with three freshmen, there is one new face on the coaching staff as Ben Adams has been added as the program's volunteer coach
// THE EVENT
The Purdue Invitational will feature players from 11 schools and will consist of eight flights of competition including singles and doubles. Action is set to begin each morning at 9 a.m. starting Friday with two rounds of doubles and then singles play to follow. The only deviation to that plan would be Sunday still starting at 9 a.m. just with singles instead of doubles should rain be in the forecast.
// AND ON THIS COURT...
Brackets were released for the tournament with the Bearcats being spread out among three singles and two doubles brackets. Each singles player will play once Friday while both doubles teams will play twice. Here are the flights and first-round matches for each player:
• Purdue Singles Flight • Ioana Guna vs. Alina Kuzmenkova (DePaul) • Friday
• Purdue Pete Flight • Alexia Coutino vs. Grace Whitney (Wright State) • Friday
• Purdue Pete Flight • Anna Philp BYE (second round vs. Mary Ellen Green (NIU)/Ashton Yarosh (WSU) winner Friday)
• Basham Courts Flight • Amanda Huser vs. Maria Jose Magro Quiroz (BGSU) • Friday
• Gold Doubles Flight • Coutino/Guna vs. Potsi/Veyhle (NIU) • Friday
• Purdue Doubles Flight • Huser/Philp vs. Regalado/Eaton (EMU) • Friday
// THE COMPETITION
Along with the host Boilermakers and the Bearcats, the remaining pool of players will come from nine other programs, including Ball State, DePaul, Eastern Michigan, Lipscomb, Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, UConn and Wright State.
// RESULTS
Results for this week's meet can be found at PurdueSports.com with a recap of each day's action also set to be posted on GoBearcats.com following the conclusion of play.
// SET TO PLAY
The four Bearcats set to compete this weekend include the following:
• Alexia Coutino: played #3 through #6 singles last spring while also posting a 21-12 doubles record, including 13-6 at #1 doubles
• Ioana Guna: split time between #1 and #2 singles last spring while playing at #2 doubles throughout the season with Philp
• Amanda Huser: played primarily doubles, posting an 8-5 mark in the fall
• Anna Philp: played at #4-#6 singles in the spring and was 9-9 at #2 doubles as well, joining forces with Guna much of the season in doubles
// LOOKING BACK • 2018-19
The Bearcats finished the season with a 12-11 overall record, including a 5-1 mark at home, after falling in the quarterfinals of the AAC Championships. Here is what Coach Toth had to say about the most recent campaign:
"At this point, all you can do is look back at the season and hope everyone involved realizes what a good season we had. If a few things go our way in a few of our matches, you could be talking about one of the better seasons in our program's history. With that said, everyone in our program can be proud of the fact we won more than we lost and never went down easily. With a little more maturing and improvement, I'm confident this team can break through against some of the better teams on our schedule and in our conference."
// IT'S ACADEMIC
The UC Athletics Department has continued to shine academically with the tennis team being toward the top of the list annually. This past year, the team amassed a cumulative GPA of 3.727 as nine players earned recognition from the league as AAC All-Academic. The team also was honored with the AAC Team Academic Excellence Award which is given annually to the team with the highest GPA in the league in each sport. The tennis program was one of five UC programs to have the highest GPA in their respective sport for the 2018-19 academic year.
// HELLO! MY NAME IS...
The program welcomed a trio of newcomers to the courts this year, including Sofia Bruno (Brolo, Sicily, Italy), Claire Koscielski (Indianapolis/Cathedral HS) and Kelli Niehaus (Cincinnati/Mount Notre Dame HS). Bruno comes to Cincinnati after winning a pair of regional U16 titles in Italy while also playing in the main draw of several Italian championship events. Koscielski won a state doubles title for Cathedral while helping her team to a pair of Indiana crowns while also posting a record of 101-0 in singles competition. Niehaus was a four-time state qualifier in singles in Ohio and was the runner-up in 2018 while also winning the Midwest Closed Level 1 U18 doubles title that year as well. All three will be available to play for UC starting this fall.
// WELCOME!
Another new face to the program comes in the form of Ben Adams, who joined the team as a volunteer coach. Adams brings a wealth of coaching experience as he previously was the head coach of the men's and women's programs at the University of Pikeville for three years. Adams has been on campus already as he currently serves as an adjunct professor in sport administration at UC.
// NEXT TIME OUT
The Bearcats will be back in action next week as they will return to the Hoosier State with a trip to Bloomington, Ind., for the Indiana Fall Invitational. The event, hosted by IU, will run Friday-Sunday, September 27-29.