Sept. 16, 2007
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Junior Stephanie Wooten appears to be fully recovered from the injuries that sidelined her a year ago as she reached the finals of flight five singles this weekend at the University of Tennessee/St. Mary's Classic.
Wooten eliminated Eastern Tennessee's Elena Volobueva in straight sets 6-2, 6-0 and NC State's Julia Roach in three 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 before falling to Georgia's Cameron Ellis in the final 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.
Wooten's matches were first against real opposition in more than a year. She sat out all of 2006-07 with torn ligaments in her ankle.
Wooten and newcomer, Joanna Craven, also won two matches in doubles flight three. The Boilermaker duo lost their first-round match, but rolled through the back draw, topping Byrne and Sheets of ETSU 8-3 and NC State's Bleakely/Barringer 8-4.
The return of Wooten and the addition of Craven give the Boilermakers a fresh look to its 2007-08 roster. Wooten, despite playing at No. 5, will attempt to regain the No. 2 singles position or higher, which she claimed as a freshman in 2004-05.
Craven, a native of Yorkshire, England, registered a 1-2 record in flight four singles and reached the backdraw title match in her first tournament wearing the Old Gold and Black.
Craven is expected to use the fall season to stake a position in the lineup. As the lone true freshman on this year's roster, she'll have to prove herself against five experienced starters and second-year Boilermaker and junior Alejandra Boeker.
Of those returning starters, Brooke Beier and Cigdem Duru will be the most relied upon for victories and leadership. As a team, the senior tandem reached the back draw finals and lost a tiebreak 9-8 (4) to the No. 19 Hyndman sisters of Georgia.
As individuals, Duru won the back draw at No. 2 but Beier lost there at No. 1 to ETSU's Yevgeniya Stupak 6-4, 6-3.
Duru lost in straight sets to No. 80 Austin Smith of UNC, then came back to defeat ETSU's Tara Byrne and NC State's Neils Barringer 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-1.
"For having never played together, Brooke and Cigdem looked good and had some close matches - and probably should have beat Wake Forest," said Purdue first-year head coach Laura Glitz.
Anna Dzeva was solid at the back end of last year's lineup with a 14-6 dual record, and performed well again in Tennessee, earning third place in the seventh singles flight. Dzeva knocked off Tennessee's Rosalie Alda in the first round, lost in the semifinals, then rebounded against Wake Forest's Jenna Loeb 7-5, 6-2.
"I thought the team felt good about this first weekend," said Glitz. "They went out there, competed hard and fought for every point."
The Boilermakers have next weekend off before returning to competition at the Michigan Invitational, Sept. 28 to 30. Beier is scheduled to compete that same weekend as an individual at the All-America Championships in Los Angeles.