DES MOINES, Iowa - Sophomore Ariel Dechter won her opening matches in both singles and doubles play and the doubles tandem of Alexa Brandt/Ashley Thai pulled a first-round upset, highlighting Bradley's action at the opening day of the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Tennis Individual Championships Friday at Waveland Tennis Courts.
The Braves won two of their three doubles matches to open the tournament: Brandt/Thai upset Drake's No. 2 seed, Mariel Ante/Summer Brills, in Flight 1 Doubles in a tie-breaker, 8-7 (5), and Dechter teamed with Irinka Toidze for an 8-0 romp against the Missouri State tandem of Abbey Belote/Mackenzie Rozell in Flight 2 Doubles.
The 2014 Missouri Valley Conference Freshman of the Year, Dechter added a 7-5, 7-5 win against Southern Illinois' Meagan Monaghan in the opening round of Flight 2 Singles. She will face Wichita State's top-seeded Gabriela Porubin in the Flight 2 semifinals Saturday.
Senior Elizabeth Przystawski joined Dechter as a first-round winner Friday, knocking off Illinois State's Natalia Parchowska (7-5, 6-1) in Flight 6 Singles. Przystawski will face Drake's Tess Herder in the semifinals.
It appeared Brandt had carried over the momentum of her doubles win with Thai into the opening round of Flight 1 Singles when she earned a 6-3 win in the first set of her match against Evansville's Marketa Trousilova, but the Purple Aces player rallied for a 3-set win with 6-4 and 6-3 scores in the final two sets. Brandt became one of three Braves to advance to her flight's fifth-place match when her consolation round opponent, Missouri State's Ema Turudija, withdrew. Brandt will take on Northern Iowa's Elvira Lopez in the Flight 1 Singles fifth-place match.
While Manfredo (Flight 3) and Thai (Flight 5) suffered first-round losses Friday, both rebounded with wins in their consolation brackets and also will play for fifth. Thai eliminated Missouri State's Abbey Belote (6-1, 6-0) and Manfredo dumped Illinois State's Valerija Gercar (6-2, 7-5).
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