HOUSTON — Southwestern women's tennis placed two singles players in the final four on the second day of the ITA Regional Championship Tournament. 

Defending ITA singles champion Nina Mitrofanova defeated Trinity's Samantha Miller 6-1, 4-6 [10-2], but was upset by UT-Dallas's Suzuka Nishino 6-3, 2-6 [10-6] in the quarterfinals. Next, Nishino will face Emma Kesterson, who defeated teammate Erika Synoski 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and Trinity's Cate Cushing 6-2, 6-3 to advance. 

Freshman Lydia Lee advanced to the semifinals by defeating St. Thomas's Ana Maria Gonzalez 6-3, 6-1, and Trinity's Ruth Hill 6-2, 6-3. Next, Lee will face UT-Dallas's Samantha Wong, who defeated Sydney Wahl 7-5, 6-2 in the previous round. Wahl bested Trinity's Megan Flores 7-5, 6-3 before that. 

"Lydia played incredible, taking down the No. 3 seed in singles. She was up 7-2 in the 10-point tiebreak and held on for a close win," Southwestern head tennis coach Billy Porter says. "Emma played strong, taking out the No. 4 seed, and did a great job of stepping in and hitting through her opponent." 

Southwestern also has two doubles teams in the ITA Regional Championships semifinals. Mitrofanova and Lee defeated St. Thomas's Gonzalez and Lopez 8-2 to advance and face Trinity's Flores and Cushing. Alli Ziehm and Kesterson will play UT'Dallas's Wong and Ducret after defeating Trinity's Hill and Olivia Kim 8-5. 

"Alli was rock-solid in doubles tonight, and I thought she did a great job at the net all night," Porter says. "Nina had a tough loss in singles, but I'm really proud of her for rebounding in doubles the way she did."