Bethlehem, Pa. – Radford women's tennis team opened its 2009 campaign with a 6-1 defeat of Lehigh and a 5-2 loss against Bucknell on Saturday at the Lewis Tennis Center. Freshmen Petra Dajevic (Zagreb, Croatia/Sportska gimnazija) and Mia Drobnjak (Zagreb, Croatia/Fourth gimnazija) each went 2-0 in singles competition to start their collegiate careers. 

The team of Ivana Tomaic (Zagreb, Croatia/Third Gymnasium) and Mirna Matic (Umag, Croatia/Vladimir Gortan Buje) helped the Highlanders (1-0, 0-0) get off to an early 1-0 lead by beating Ruthie Furman and Stacey Reich of Lehigh to claim the doubles point. 

In singles competition, Dajevic and Drobnjak each record their first collegiate singles win when they defeated Ariella Cohen and Liz Piscitelli of Lehigh, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-3, 6-4. 

In the second match of the day, the Highlanders faced Bucknell, who is picked to finish second in the Patriot League. The Highlanders stumbled out of the gates in this match by losing all three doubles matches 8-6, 8-5, 8-3.

In singles action, Dajevic and Drobnjak defeated Paulina Gamboa and Tania Varela at No.1 and No.2 singles. The next four matches for the Highlanders were all battles. Matic went to three sets against Dara Dwojewski before faltering 11-9 in a tiebreaker. 

The women's team returns to action on February, 7 at 1:00 pm against Appalachian State.

Radford 6, Lehigh 1
Singles competition
1. DAJEVIC, Petra (RAD) def. COHEN, Ariela (LEH) 6-2, 6-3
2. TOMAIC, Ivana (RAD) def. ARTHOFER, Julie (LEH) 6-2, 6-3
3. DROBNJAK, Mia (RAD) def. PISCITELLI,Elizabeth (LEH) 6-3, 6-4
4. MATIC, Mirna (RAD) def. REICH, Stacey (LEH) 6-1, 6-3
5. FURMAN, Ruthie (LEH) def. IOSUE, Antonietta (RAD) 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 10-3
6. SPECTOR, Ally (RAD) def. MURASKO-BLANK, Kiera (LEH) 6-7 (6-8), 6-1, 10-8

Doubles competition
1. DROBNJAK, Mia/SPECTOR, Ally (RAD) def. ARTHOFER, Julie/PISCITELLI,Elizabeth (LEH) 8-5
2. MATIC, Mirna/TOMAIC, Ivana (RAD) def. FURMAN, Ruthie/REICH, Stacey (LEH) 8-4
3. DAJEVIC, Petra/IOSUE, Antonietta (RAD) def. COHEN, Ariela/MURASKO-BLANK, Kiera (LEH) 8-6
 
Bucknell 5, Radford 2
Singles competition
1. DAJEVIC, Petra (RAD) def. GAMBOA, Paulina (BUC) 6-2, 6-2
2. DROBNJAK, Mia (RAD) def. VARELA, Tania (BUC) 6-2, 6-3
3. LUCIDO, Lauren (BUC) def. TOMAIC, Ivana (RAD) 6-1, 6-4
4. DWOJEWSKI, Dara (BUC) def. MATIC, Mirna (RAD) 6-2, 3-6, 11-9
5. CALCATERRA, Carlin (BUC) def. IOSUE, Antonietta (RAD) 7-6 (7-5), 6-3
6. ROTTKAMP, Lauren (BUC) def. SPECTOR, Ally (RAD) 7-6 (7-3), 6-1

Doubles competition
1. VARELA, Tania/LUCIDO, Lauren (BUC) def. DAJEVIC, Petra/DROBNJAK, Mia (RAD) 8-6
2. GAMBOA, Paulina/CALCATERRA, Carlin (BUC) def. TOMAIC, Ivana/MATIC, Mirna (RAD) 8-5
3. GLOBERMAN, Ashley/DWOJEWSKI, Dara (BUC) def. SPECTOR, Ally/IOSUE, Antonietta (RAD) 8-3