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.