Sept. 22, 2013

CORPUS CHRISTI - Dariya Dashutina is set for an exciting last day to the first fall tournament of the year as the Ukrainian advanced to the semifinals of the Marco & Co. Catering Islanders Open on the campus of  Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Dashutina, who beat Incarnate Word's Jennifer Betancourt in 6-2, 6-1 fashion on Friday, started off Saturday with a 2-6, 6-3 (5) victory over Celia Rodriguez of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to advance to the quarterfinals, where she would take on another Islander in Sandra Burges. Dashutina picked up a decisive 6-1 victory in the opening set and then held on for the 7-5 decision in the second. On Sunday, she's set to square off against TAMUCC's Maider Martin for a berth into the final.

After picking up a 6-2, 6-3 win over UIW's Taryn Strahl on Friday, Carolina Masó was not as fortunate on Saturday, losing to Houston's Rocio Martin Fernandez 6-7, 6-1, 10-8 in the quarterfinals.

On Friday, Martin Fernandez pushed Alicia Porte into the back draw with a 6-2, 6-2 win. However, Porte was able to bounce back in a big way, winning 6-0, 6-0 over Ashton Garcia of Texas A&M-Kingsville and 6-1, 6-0 over Francesca Chaher of St. Edward's to move onto the final of the consolation bracket, where she'll be taking on fellow Lady Card Katya Lapayeva.

Lapayeva dropped a 6-2, 6-3 match to Ivana Catavia of UIW on Friday, but bounced back with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against UH's Dionne Sanders and a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing of UIW's Brianah Creek.

Creek bounced Robyn Summers from the tournament on Friday evening in 6-3, 6-3 fashion after the freshman dropped a 7-6, 7-6 heartbreaker to Summer Biggs of St. Edwards.

Hanna Elfving saw her tournament run come to an end, losing 6-2, 6-3 to TAMUCC's Stefania Nicolae. On Friday, the freshman out of Sweden handed Andi Botha of UIW a 6-2, 6-2 loss.

Both Nadiya Kulibaba and Anna Spengler fell out of the tournament on Friday as well. Spengler lost 6-0, 6-2 to Burges and 6-2, 6-3 to Sasha Khadzhyan of St. Edward's, and Kulibaba dropped out with a 6-3, 6-2 decision to St. Edward's Brooke Hughes.

Lamar will return to the courts in Corpus Christi on Sunday at 9 a.m.

#PeckEm