LAS VEGAS, Nev. (Oct. 14, 2015) – Four individual singles players and one doubles team advanced to the next round to begin the 2015 ITA Mountain Regional Championships, on Wednesday in Las Vegas.
“We have come a long way but still have miles to get where we want to be. We have glimpses of playing good doubles but somehow revert to old ways at times,” UW head coach Dean Clower said. “We are playing better which is all we can ask for.”
Three doubles teams opened up the first day of competition for the Cowgirls. Junior Dorottya Jonas and freshman Elisa Koonik were the lone duo to come away with a victory. The pair defeated Gabriel Joyce and Chloe Jolliff of New Mexico State 8-7. Senior Nastya Tokareva and junior Miranda Talbert fell short against Rita Bermudez and Celine Koetz of Idaho, 8-6, while sophomore Magdalena Stencel and freshman Tessa van Der Ploeg lost to New Mexico’s Andrea Leblanc and Rachana Bhat, 8-3.
Three of the seven Cowgirls won their first round matches in singles. Stencel had a first round bye and will play Adriana Gergelyova of Denver tomorrow afternoon. Jonas advanced with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Mia Brandt of New Mexico State. Talbert won in straight sets, 7-6, 7-5, over Reka Szentes of UNLV. Her next opponent will be Nuria Ormeno Ruiz of Colorado. The other Cowgirl to come away with a victory was Tokareva. She defeated Veronica Dodds in two sets, 6-2, 6-2, and will face Taylor Calton of Utah.
“We played some good singles today. Elisa (Koonik) showed signs of playing some high level tennis and Miranda (Talbert) did what we brought her in to do. Once again, we moved another step forward as a team and must continue to progress.”
Hoekstra, Koonik and van Der Ploeg each suffered first round losses and will move into the consolation bracket. Hoekstra fell short in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1, to Jordan Denesik of Northern Arizona. Koonik had a tough three set battle, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 against Savannah Ware (BYU) while van Der Ploeg lost to Lea Krajcovicova of Northern Colorado, 6-1, 6-2.
The second and third round of singles and second round of doubles play will continue tomorrow in Las Vegas.