St. John’s Finishes Play at the Columbia Invitational

NEW YORK, N.Y. (Sept. 15, 2019) – This weekend, the St. John's women's tennis team finished its first fall tournament of the season, winning a total of six matches at the Columbia Invitational, hosted at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center. The weekend was highlighted by freshman Camila Ordonez, who rallied to claim two matches in the consolation bracket after losing her first contest in the Staten Island Draw in straight sets to Fordham's Rachel Lim. The Miami native took care of LIU Brooklyn's Valentina Duncenco in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3 before defeating Fordham's Genevieve Quenville in the consolation final, 6-3, 6-2. In other singles matchups, senior Oceane Garibal reached the semifinal round of the Manhattan Singles Tournament. Garibal won her quarterfinal match in thrilling fashion over Colgate's Emma Levenson, 7-5, 5-7, 10-4, before losing a tough semifinals matchup against Columbia's Jennifer Kerr 6-1, 6-3. Fellow senior Milka Genkova finished the Brooklyn Draw as the runner-up of the consolation bracket, finishing 1-2 for the tournament. The Bulgaria native picked up an easy 6-2, 6-1 win in her first consolation bracket match over Lauren O'Brien of Colgate. Genkova would fall in the final contest of her tournament to LIU Brooklyn's Elinor Storkas in dramatic fashion, 6-4, 4-6, 11-9. Junior Jenelle Downer claimed an impressive victory in her first round singles contest in the Suffolk Draw over Colgate's Nicole Condas in three sets, 4-6, 6-4, 10-6. The Brooklyn native would go on to drop her next two matches, placing fourth in her draw. Sophomore Najah Dawson and freshman Willa Bay Breunich finished the tournament with two losses in the Queens and the Bronx Draws, respectively. The duo of Garibal and Dawson grabbed the Red Storm's lone doubles victory this weekend, downing Hofstra's Alejandra Ruffini and Katherine Kacharov in the first round of the Doubles A Draw, 6-3. St. John's continues its fall slate when Coach Leo's squad travels south to Philadelphia for the Penn Invitational, hosted at the Hamlin and Hecht Tennis Centers from Oct. 4-6. Before the Johnnies return to action as a team, three-time defending BIG EAST Player of the Year Jessica Livianu will head to Malibu, Calif., next weekend to compete in the Oracle/ITA Masters Tournament at the Malibu Racquet Club, for the third year in a row. The Brooklyn native has played some of her best tennis at this event as she was the first player from the conference to reach the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA Masters Tournament two seasons ago.