HOUSTON — Southwestern women's tennis opened the ITA Regional Championships with a strong first day, advancing six Pirates to the singles Round of 16 and two doubles teams to the quarterfinals.
All-American Nina Mitrofanova opened her ITA Regional singles title defense with a pair of quick victories, defeating St. Thomas's Alyssa Davila 6-3, 6-2, and LeTourneau's Bailey Deatherage 6-2, 6-2 to advance and face Trinity's Samantha Miller.
Taylor Despriet bested East Texas Baptist's Gabbrielle Hammerbach 6-3, 6-3 and Hardin-Simmons's Isabella Serrano 6-2, 6-2. Next, she will face Trinity University's Ruth Hill, who defeated Southwestern's Alli Ziehm 6-3, 6-3 in the second round. Ziehm defeated Austin College's Kylie Imperial in the previous match.
Lauren Chisholm opened her ITA regional debut with a win over Hardin-Simmons's Priscilla Schimming 6-2, 6-3 but lost to Trinity's Megan Flores 6-4, 6-3. Chandler Vrba posted a win against Texas Lutheran's Kayleigh Gardner 6-3, 6-2 before losing to UT-Dallas's Suzuka Nishino 6-3, 6-3.
Sydney Wahl won both her matches, winning every set 6-2 to defeat Schreiner's Katelyn Ruiz and Hardin-Simmons's Ximena Benitez. She'll play Flores tomorrow.
Freshmen Lydia Lee and Erika Synoski advance to the second day in their first ITA Regional Championships debut. Lee earned the opportunity to face St. Thomas's Ana Maria Gonzales tomorrow by defeating Concordia's Kayla Pena 6-2, 6-2 and Trinity's Ella Cummings 6-4, 6-2. Synoski picked up a three-set win over St. Thomas's Alejandra Lopez. Her second-round opponent withdrew with an injury, setting up the first Southwestern vs. Southwestern match between Synoski and Emma Kesterson. Kesterson defeated Schreiner's Blair Drought-Villarreal 6-3, 6-2 and Trinity's Elodie Richard 6-2, 6-2.
"Erika had a big win over a seed and strong player," Southwestern tennis head coach Billy Porter says. "She followed that up with a walkover and now gets to face her teammate Emma Kesterson in the Round of 16 tomorrow."
In doubles, MItrofanova and Lee join teammates Ziehm and Kesterson in the quarterfinals. Mitrofanova and Lee defeated UT-Dallas's Tisha Nakakes-Nguyen and Nishino 8-2, then Hardin-Simmons's Schimming and Jonnah Smith 8-4 to advance and play St. Thomas's Gonzalez and Lopez. Ziehm and Kesterson swept Hardin-Simmons's Serrano and Benitez, and Austin College's Imperial and Gigi Francis with 8-0 wins. They'll face Trinity's Hill and Olivia Kim.
Chisholm and Wahl defeated Concordia's Pena and Isabella Wiik 8-7, then lost to UT-Dallas's Rebecca Jackson and Megan Zeng 8-2. Despriet and Synoski defeated Schreiners Daniella Rodriguez and Villarreal 8-0 before falling to UT-Dallas's Samantha Wong and Elyssa Ducret.
"Nina and Lydia were down early in their second doubles match but made some necessary adjustments to battle back and close it out," Porter says. "Despite the loss, Erika and Taylor played really strong doubles in the second-round matchup. It was a good test as one of the players was an NCAA Semifinalist last year, and I thought our players played up to that level."