SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Pirate women’s tennis team
competed at the ITA Regionals over the weekend and finished 8-8
after the first day and 3-7 on the final two days of action to wrap
up the fall season. Southwestern was able to compete in just one
tournament during the fall due to a rain soaked season.
On day one, #10 seed senior Mary Pennington started off strong,
easily defeating Kori Stark of (HPU) 6-2, 6-1 and then Emily Kuo of
Austin College 6-1,6-2 to advance to the A Draw third round on day
two. Pennington fell to #3 seed Michelle Hagler of UT-Tyler 6-2,
6-4 to end her run through the singles matches.
Pennington joined forces with junior Kelly Finn in doubles action
on the first day, but the #7 seed was defeated in the first round A
Draw doubles 8-3 by Harmon/Rittenhouse of UT-Tyler.
Sophomore Jessica Gaines also advanced to the second round of the A
Draw after defeating Hardin-Simmons’ Melissa Yeakle 6-2, 6-4.
She fell to #2 seed Griffith of Trinity in the second round 6-2,
6-0.
Junior Sara Fitzsimmons narrowly dropped the first set of her first
round match 7-5 to Howard Payne’s Darrah Blackwater but
couldn’t pull ahead as she fell 7-5, 6-0. The loss moved
Fitzsimmons to the consolation round where she defeated Amy Hathorn
of McMurry 6-2,7-5 to advance to face teammate Lali Satyavada in
the A Consolation Draw Second Round.
The duo paired up on the same side of the court for doubles action
in day one, but were defeated by #2 seed Poettcker/Ekanayake
8-1.
Satyavada advanced there by defeating Cassie Emerson of Howard
Payne 6-3,6-0. Satyavada took the 10-4 win over Fitzsimmons to move
to the A Consolation Draw Quarterfinals to take on Lauren Diaz of
UT-Dallas. She blanked Diaz 10-0 and also breezed through the
semifinals, beating UT-Tyler’s Posas 10-5. Satyavada’s
run was ended in the A Consolation Draw Finals where she narrowly
fell to HSU’s Lauren Jay 10-7.
Also competing for the Pirates were senior Emily Gutzmer, and
first-years Abigail Sedory, Kindall Hogenson and Sarah Johnson.
Gutzmer lost her first round A draw singles to #8 Lauren Nielsen of
UTT 6-2, 6-0 but rebounded to defeat Margaret Edwards (AC) 6-2,6-1.
She fell in the A Consolation Draw second round to Nassar of UTD
10-3 the following day.
In doubles action, Gutzmer joined up with Gaines to take the first
round A draw doubles over HSU’s Crouch/Cochran 8-4. The duo
fell to #5 Hermsdorf/McRae 8-3 in the second round.
Sedory dropped her first round B Draw singles to Summer Smith of
UTT 7-5, 6-2 and fell again to Loftus of UMHB 8-2. On the doubles
side, she joined up with Johnson for the first round B Draw doubles
and advanced to the second round after taking down Long/Ramo of
UMHB 8-4 before losing to Neale/Filipowicz of Trinity 8-4.
Johnson narrowly fell in the second round B Draw singles 6-4, 3-6,
11-9 to McMurry’s Mauldin.
Hogenson won her first round B Draw singles and took down Bailey of
Austin College 6-2, 6-2 in the second round to advance on. In the
semifinal match she fell to Wilkins of UTT 8-1.
The ITA Regionals marks the end of the fall competition for the
Pirates. Their next match will be February 12th at the UMHB
Invitational in Belton, Texas.
WOMENS TENNIS ENDS FALL SEASON AT ITA REGIONALS
Posted: Oct 04, 2009