October 9, 2004

BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Tech continued its' impressive performance on Saturday at the Hokie Fall Invitational. The hosts will have both competitors in the Flight A singles finals and three other team members playing in the finals of their respective singles flights onSunday. The Hokies will also have two doubles teams competing for titles on the final day of the tournament. The event is being played at the Burrows/Burleson Tennis Center on the Virginia Tech campus.

The Flight A singles featured and all-Tech semifinal as Anat Elazari (Jr., Tiberias, Israel), ranked No. 73 nationally, defeated Felice Lam (Sr., Seattle, Wash.) 6-1, 6-3 while J.J. Larson (Fr., Orchard Park, N.Y.) won and up-and-down 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 match over teammate Ashley James (So., Williamsburg, Va.). Elazari and Larson will play for the championship Sunday at 11 a.m. while Lam plays James in the third-place match at the same time.

In Flight B, Jessica Long (Fr., Elizabethtown, Pa.) advanced to the title match with a 6-4, 6-2 win over fellow Hokie Gabriela Carvalho (Fr., Rock Hill, S.C.). Long faces Mariia Ilina (East Tennessee State) in the championship match at noon and Carvalho battles Renata Caceras (Winthrop) for third-place also at noon.

The Flight C singles championship will be another all-Hokie affair as Meredith Holmes (Jr., Bloomington, Ind.) defeated teammate Catherine Slagel (So., Richmond, Va.), 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals while Julia Facchina (Fr., Glenwood, Md.) beat Muriel Sherwood (East Tennessee State), 6-2, 6-2. The two Hokies will square off at noon in the title match while Slagel plays Sherwood at noon for third-place.

The Tech duo of Lam/Larson improved to 9-0 thus far in the fall schedule with victories Saturday over Aldea/Halim (East Tennessee State), 8-3, and Ilina/Ziolkowska (East Tennessee State), 8-5. They will play Caceras/Takahashi (Winthrop) for the championship at 9 a.m. The pair earlier won both the William & Mary and Wake Forest Invitationals.

In Flight B, Facchia/Holmes advanced to the championship match with an 8-3 win over Dlugos/Schutt (Appalachian State). They will take on Moita (Winthrop)/Sherwood (East Tennessee State) in the 9:30 a.m. championship match.

All finals will be contested Sunday with the doubles finals beginning at 9 a.m. followed by the singles championship matches.