Nov. 3, 2002

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - After two-and-a-half dry and clear, albeit cold, days the skies finally opened Sunday and forced the cancellation of the final matches at the Bulldog Open. Despite the inopportune weather interruption the tennis coaches said the tournament was a success.

"We had a good turnout and some pretty well-played tennis," said women's coach Terri Sisk. "Just another half hour of dry weather and we would have had the whole tournament completed."

Samford sophomore Katie Crawford advanced to the finals of the women's open singles "A" consolation round by winning two matches after an opening round defeat. Crawford was defeated in the finals by UAB's Femke Debore 6-0, 3-6, 10-6. The women's "A" main draw final was halted due to the weather with Jacksonville State's Sally Pearson leading Auburn-Montgomery's Suzanna Valekova 2-1 in the first set.

SU's Lisa Stertzer advanced to the finals of the "B" consolation bracket by beating Whitney Carrol of Shorter College 6-2, 6-4. Stertzer's final match against Birmingham-Southern's Laura Kirk was cut short before completion. The women's "B" main draw final also ended early; UAB's Yvonne Ernst was battling Shorter's Coralie Roussel.

The women's "C" main draw was decided before the rain, with Julie Schiefelbain of Shorter College beating teammate Edyta Urbain 6-1, 6-0 in the final. Julia Davis of Tennessee State and Shorter's Caroline Jordan were rained out in the "C" consolation final.

UAB's Gago and Valekova's won the women's "A" doubles final, 8-2 over Bruno and Electra Henry of Auburnm-Montgomery. Jill Camacho and Carrie Gracey of UA-Huntsville won the "B" doubles, 8-1 over Danetta Rachel and Omolola Oredugba of Tennessee State.

In men's action, SU's Clive Yeo was playing in the finals of the "C" consolation final against independent John Crist when the weather set in for the afternoon.

Former Samford player David Misner competed as an independent, reaching the finals of the men's "A" main draw. His match with AUM's Tomas Catar was rained out. Stig Stroem of AUM and Ivan Andreev of UAB were rained out in the men's "A" consolation final with Stroem serving up a set (6-3).

The men's "B" final was also washed away, as Rodney Rapson of Jacksonville State was down a set (3-5), serving to Nickolas Vasquez of Shorter College. TSU's Jamaal Brown and Christian Rybertt of JSU were in the second set of the "B" consolation match when it was cancelled, with Rybertt leading 6-2, 0-2.

Federico Palambo of Shorter and Ben Johnson fo BSC made it to the finals of the men's "C" main draw, with Johnson leading 5-3 in the first set.

In doubles play, independents Vandermerwe and Woisetschlaeger reached the finals of the "A" bracket against Lars Ranger and Stig Stroem of AUM. Finally, in "B" doubles play Raphael Fritzen and Renato Mizutani of Shorter College reached the finals against Joe Kula and Nickolas Vasquez.

"The tennis was good, and I think all the teams who came are glad they made the trip," said men's coach Kemper Baker. "We want to thank the teams for making the trip. It was a good way to wind up the fall season."