In the second tournament of their fall season, the Thunderbird women’s tennis team had one of their best performances in program history. They put players in the semifinals and quarterfinals of the singles event, had a second place finish in doubles, and success in the backdraws of both events.
“The team we played amazing this past weekend. The girls exceeded my expectations of where we should be right now. Their hard work is paying off. I couldn’t be more proud of the girls,” head coach, Rose Ketmayura, said.
Freshman, Eira Tobrand, led the charge for Southern Utah in singles. In her second tournament as a Thunderbird, she made a run all the way to the quarterfinals of the singles draw.
In other singles action, Alexandra Ngo, Ghita Nassik, Charity Sagiao, Daniela Cozzi, and Mikala Lowrance all won at least their first match.
“Eira, Alex and Ghita really improved and played the type of game that they’re capable of. Each player had two big wins good opponents today,” Ketmayura said.
In the doubles draw, the pair of Lowrance and Sagiao made a big splash making it all the way to the finals. The final was tight, but Lowrance and Sagiao fell to Parker and Herb of Weber State University.
In the doubles back draw, Laura Martin and Teresa de Enrique Schmidt worked their way to the consolation finals. Martin and Schmidt won a nail biter in the finals against 8-7 (8-6) against Walker and Fenske of Idaho State.
Thanks to their impressive performances in the first two tournaments of the season, the Thunderbirds will be sending players to the ITA Regionals. This is a huge milestone for the Southern Utah women’s tennis team as this is the first time in program history players from Southern Utah qualified for the ITA Regionals.
More than half of the team will be going as well. Five of the eight Thunderbirds on the roster have qualified.
The Thunderbird tennis team departs to Salt Lake City, Utah to compete in the ITA Regionals this week. Competition will go from October 11th to October 15th as Southern Utah women’s tennis further seeks to make a name for themselves this season.
Stay tuned for updates on the action.
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Story By
SUU Athletic Strategic Communications
