Results
BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team continued its time at the 2024 ITA Atlantic Region Championships in fine fashion on day two Saturday at the Burt Reese Tennis Center in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania.
Not only did SRU send a doubles team into Sunday's semifinals, it also had three athletes advance to the quarterfinals of the singles championship bracket.
Slippery Rock sustained its success in the doubles championship tournament Saturday as
Alissia Kivi and
Nicole Kempton registered their third consecutive victory, and eighth win in their last nine matches overall, by defeating Lieselotte Hartlöhner and Annemiek Sterk of Indiana (Pa.) (6-4) in a meeting between the third and sixth seeded teams in the tournament to clinch a spot in Sunday's semifinals.
SRU just missed out on sending a second team into the semifinals after
Tina Slovak and
Dari Sakhanova fell to the second-seeded duo of Filippa Larsson and Sofia Krasikova out of Charleston (6-3).
Kempton and Kivi will next square off against Larsson and Krasikova Sunday with s spot in the Atlantic Region Championship match at stake.
Just as they did in their opening round of the singles bracket, The Rock's seeded entries continued to roll in the Round of 32.
No. 1
Amaia Balaguer Brau cruised past Lauren Ceballos of Frostburg State (6-1, 6-1), No. 8 Kempton beat Bloomsburg's Nicole Ilkovic (6-3, 6-1), No. 10 Kivi downed Dasha Nakonechna of Bloomsburg (6-1, 6-1) and No. 14 Sakhanova defeated Cal's Teddi Isherwood (6-2, 6-4).
One Rock competitor did have their tournament run end in the second round as
Georgie Lancaster lost to Krasikova (6-1, 6-0). Krasikova, Charleston's top athlete, entered the tournament as No. 2 seed.
Just as it began, the day ended with more Rock wins. Balaguer
Brau,
Sakhanova and
Kivi were all once again victorious in the Round of 16.
In what was arguably the match of the day, Kivi battled her way to a victory over Larsson. After losing the opening set, 7-5, Kivi bounced back to even the match with a 6-2 decision followed by a clinching 15-13 triumph to move on into the quarterfinals against IUP's Dani Ramos.
Balaguer Brau picked up a 6-2 6-2 win of her own against UC's Riva Hondiashvilli and Sakhanova bested Galia Mezouar (Salem) to set up an all-Rock quarterfinal match pitting the two against one another. Sakhanova holds a 6-1 record and Balaguer Brau is 5-1 heading into the matchup of teammates,
Kempton performed well in her Round of 16 match against Charleston's Sara Martinez, but ultimately came up just short in a 3-6, 6-2, 10-4 loss.
Day three of the 2024 ITA Atlantic Region Championships is slated to get underway 10 a.m. Sunday with doubles semifinal round followed by the singles quarterfinals and semifinals.
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