Oct. 4, 2005
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. - Washington State tennis player Ekaterina Burduli dropped two matches to nationally-ranked opponents at the All-American Invitational, Tuesday.
The sophomore was defeated by Alexis Prousis of Northwestern 6-4, 6-2, who was No. 50 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Burduli, No. 45, then faced No. 49 Iva Gersic of New Mexico and again was taken down 6-4, 6-4.
"Ekaterina competed very hard and it was an honor for her to be here," WSU Head Coach Lisa Hart said. "It wasn't her best tennis, but now we'll take a few days and rest up for the ITA Regional."
Burduli and 53 other female athletes competed in the qualifying singles draw along with eight athletes from the prequalifying singles draw. The prequalifying draw was played Friday and Saturday with the top eight from the field of 64 moving on. The top eight of the qualifying singles draw will be entered into the main draw being played Thursday, Oct. 6 through Sunday, Oct. 9.
The Tel Aviv, Israel native, will now prepare with her WSU teammates for the ITA Regional at Stanford, Calif., Friday, Oct. 21-24.
