Texas State Tennis completes play at the ITA Texas Regional Championships – The University Star

Texas State Tennis sent six singles players and three doubles pairs to the ITA Texas Regional Championships, held at the Bayard H. Friedman Tennis Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

PhD student Callie Creathsenior Sofia Fortunosenior Maria LoraJunior Emily Niers, Junior- Ireland Simme and senior Kiana Graham were the six athletes who made the trip to Fort Worth. Since all athletes competed in both the singles and doubles events, they chose the Bobcats as follows:

Single:

Callie Creath:

Create received a first-round bye in qualifying and used that to prepare for their next match against freshman Tarleton State Maria Castanowhich she won in straight sets 6-4 and 7(8)-6(6). In the main draw, Creath lost her opening match in straight sets 0:6 and 3:6 against the Baylor newcomer Wenfei Yu. In the first two rounds of the consolation bracket, Creath suffered a bye and an injury to an opponent. In round 16, Creath lost to North Texas Junior in straight sets 6(2)-7(7), 2-6 Marina Adati.

Sofia Fortuno:

Fortuno started the tournament with two exciting qualifying matches, winning the first in straight sets against Abilene Christian junior Maria Cascos 6-1 and 7(7)-6(3). In their second matchup, Fortuno and Rice are sophomores Nithesa Selvaraj Divide the first two sets 6-2 and 6(5)-7(7). Fortuno defeated Selvaraj 6-3 in the third set, won the match and advanced to the next round. In the main draw, Fortuno lost in straight sets to the SMU newcomer Sophie Llewellynboth finished 2-6. Fortuno was scheduled to compete in the consolation round but withdrew.

Maria Lora:

Lora had a tough first qualifying match, losing in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 to Tarleton State Junior Ximena Morales. After her loss, Lora competed in the consolation division and won her only match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, against the University of Texas sophomore Maddy MacNeille.

Emily Niers:

Niers started qualifying well, winning her opening game in a hard-fought match against North Texas sophomore Carolina Laydner in straight sets 7(7)-6(4) and 6-4. Niers needed a win in her second game to qualify for the main draw, but couldn’t get the better of the Tarleton State freshman Duru Kuscu in straight sets with a score of 2-6 and 1-6 and ended their tournament.

Ireland Simme:

Simme lost a difficult qualifying meet with Rice as a sophomore Anushka Ashar in two back and forth sets of 4-6 and 3-6. However, Simme finished the tournament strong, winning her consolation match in straight sets against sophomore Sam Houston State Sara Sadadinovic with a score of 7-6 with a tiebreaker of 7-4 and a second set 6-4.

Kiana Graham:

Graham entered the main draw of the competition for the third consecutive year and her first singles match was against the University of Houston as a sophomore Iva Sepa. Graham won a three-set thriller 6-3, 4-6 and 7-5. In her next round of 32, Graham couldn’t keep up with the Baylor University senior Cristina Tigleawho won in straight sets 4:6 and 1:6.

Double:

Ireland Simme and Emily Niers:

Simme and Niers failed to make it past the first round of the main draw, losing 8-1 in the round of 64 after facing a formidable pair in the North Texas sophomores Lily Schultz And Stanislava Shulzhenko. In the consolation draw, the two received a bye in qualifying and the first round of the tournament. In the round of 16, Simme and Niers won after their opponent was injured and met Morales and Castano in the quarterfinals. The two athletes fought hard in this duel, but failed with a 5:8 defeat.

Sofia Fortuno and Maria Lora:

Fortuno and Lora continued their success in their opening round duel against Aaliyah Hohmann And Jacqueline Schnabel from Sam Houston State University. The Bobcat pair won the game 8-2 and advanced to the round of 32. In the next game, Fortuno and Lora couldn’t keep up with Senior Avelina Sayfetdinova and Junior Maria Hlaholaboth from Texas Tech University, who won 8-1.

Kiana Graham and Callie Creath:

Graham and Creath had a bye in the first round of the main draw. The Bobcat pair put on a great fight in a hard-fought second round game against Houston Junior Gabriela Cortes and Houston as a sophomore Heta Nuutinen. The set was tied 7-7 before the tiebreaker, where the Bobcats were slightly outnumbered and lost 7-2.

The pair competed in the consolation bracket and defeated the senior pair from the University of Texas at Arlington in the round of 32 Nika Novikova and freshmen Maria Araoz-Gosn 8-3. In the round of 16, Graham and Creath lost to sophomore duo Stephen F. Austin State Ksenia Mamontova and Junior Jemma Cave 4-8 in a hard fought game.

The Texas State women’s tennis team secured a total of ten victories at the ITA Texas Regional Championships, eight in singles and two in doubles. The Bobcats will look to defend their home turf in their next tournament when they host the Bobcat Invitational.

The tournament will take place on October 26th and 27th at the Bobcat Tennis Complex.