Results
 
BLOOMSBURG, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University women's team recently took part in the 2026 Intercollegiate Tennis Association Atlantic Region Championships at the Burt Reese Tennis Center on the campus of Bloomsburg University.
 
In their final individual tournament of the 2026-27 season, Slippery Rock athletes found success in both singles and doubles competition.
 
Among the highlights of The Rock's time at the ITA Atlantic Region Championships were Nicole Kempton and Nadia Rodewald advancing to the doubles bracket semifinals, four SRU athletes making the singles Round of 16 and Sophia van der Berg competing in the B Draw finals.

DOUBLES RECAP
The No. 2 seed pairing of Rock veterans, but first-year partners, Nicole Kempton and Nadia Rodewald opened their tournament run with convincing early-round wins over Edinboro's Neza Rogl / Deniela Romala Egas (8-1) and Fairmont State's Alara Akgul / Stephanie Gopar (8-2) to book a spot in the quarterfinals.
 
It appeared as if their championship hopes would end there as their quarterfinal counterparts – IUP's No. 8 Isabelle Torres / Lea von Kozierowski – jumped out to an early 4-1 lead only for SRU to rally back in dramatic fashion for the 8-6 triumph.
 
The semifinal round was another tightly contested bout between two evenly matched teams, as Indiana's No. 4 Asel Calbay and Chia-Ying Lu narrowly edged Kempton and Rodewald, 8-7 (11-9).
 
Kempton and Rodewald end the fall with an 8-3 record.
 
Other Rock teams to win matches in the doubles draw included Sophia van der Berg and Noemi Gordan as well as fifth-seeded Leane Ben Ammar and Madison Warren. Both pairings captured victories in their opening round contests before falling in the Round of 16.

SINGLES RECAP
Of Slippery Rock's six athletes in the main singles draw, four were seeded entries, all of which played their way to the Round of 16.
 
No. 3 seed Nicole Kempton breezed through here first two matches with wins over Ona Marcinkeviciute of Bloomsburg (6-0, 6-2) and East Stroudsburg's Lea Stefanovic (6-1, 6-1) before being edged in a close 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 matchup versus IUP's No. 12 Ifigeneia Kafka. Kempton enters the spring season with a 4-3 singles mark.
 
The tournament's fifth seed, Leane Ben Ammar bested Fairmont State's Deline Blania-Loof 6-4, 6-2 in the first round followed by rallying past Edinboro's Neza Rogl 0-6, 6-3, 10-6. Her tournament ultimately ended in a 6-1, 6-1 loss to Lauren Hayes of Millersville. Ben Ammar's five wins in the fall were the second highest victory total of any Rock athlete.
 
Another seeded Rock freshman, No. 11 Noemi Gordan grabbed decisive wins over Shippensburg's Brinley Orris (6-2, 6-2) and Bloomsburg's Lourdes Vallejo (6-4, 6-2) before falling in a narrow 7-5, 6-4 decision to Charleston's No. 4 Pimlaphat Lim. At 5-4, Gordan enters the spring with a winning singles record.
 
Rounding out SRU's seeded singles entries was No. 13 Nadia Rodewald, who bested Delaney Tingle of West Chester (6-3, 6-2) and West Virginia State's Talia Nichols (6-3, 6-1) prior to a Round of 16 loss to Charleston's No. 6 Michelle Connor (6-2, 6-3). Rodewald has evenly split her eight singles matches this fall.
 
Sophia van der Berg made a commendable run through the B Draw singles bracket in what was the freshman's first regional appearance. van der Berg's six wins over fall competition are a SRU team best.
 
The North Vancouver, British Columbia native rattled off three wins over Agostina Fernandez (Edinboro / 6-1, 6-0), Alexandra Cave (West Chester / 6-4, 6-4) and Jenna Kastell (East Stroudsburg / 6-2, 3-6, 10-3) to advance to bracket's finals where she lost a close match to Salem senior Ekaterina Korsakova (6-4, 7-5).
 
The ITA Atlantic Region Championships marked the final event of the fall season for Slippery Rock. The Rock returns in the spring for the team portion of their 2026-27 schedule.
 
SRU ITA Atlantic Region Championship Results
Doubles First Round
Kempton / Rodewald def. Rogl / Egas (Edinboro): 8-1
van der Berg / Gordan def. Kelsick / Kastell (East Stroudsburg): 8-3
Ben Ammar / Warren def. Orris / Kinard (Shippensburg): 8-1
Calbay / Lu (IUP) def. Poranski / Garcia Cortes: 8-1
Doubles Round of 16
Kempton / Rodewald def. Akgul / Gopar (Fairmont State): 8-2
Ifigeneia Kafka/Charliz Tabili (IUP) def. van der Berg / Gordan: 8-6
Blania-Loof / Johnson (Fairmont State) def. Ben Ammar / Warren: 8-4
Doubles Quarterfinals
Kempton / Rodewald def. Torres / von Kozierowski (IUP): 8-6
Doubles Semifinals
Calbay / Lu (IUP) def. Kempton / Rodewald: 8-7 (11-9)
 
Singles First Round
Rodewald def. Tingle (West Chester): 6-3, 6-2
Kempton def. Marcinkeviciute (Bloomsburg): 6-0, 6-2
Nakonechna (Bloomsburg) def. Garcia Cortes: 6-4, 6-3
Clark (West Chester) def. Warren: 2-6, 6-2, 10-8
Gordan def. Orris (Shippensburg): 6-2, 6-2
Ben Ammar def. Blania-Loof (Fairmont State): 6-4, 6-2
Singles Second Round
Rodewald def. Nichols (West Virginia State): 6-3, 6-1
Kempton def. Stefanovic (East Stroudsburg): 6-1, 6-1
Gordan def. Vallejo (Bloomsburg): 6-4, 6-2
Ben Ammar def. Rogl (Edinboro): 0-6, 6-3, 10-6
Singles Round of 16
Connor (Charleston) def. Rodewald: 6-2, 6-3
Kafka (IUP) def. Kempton: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
Lim (Charleston) def. Gordan: 7-5, 6-4
Hayes (Millersville) def. Ben Ammar: 6-1, 6-1
Singles B Draw
van der Berg def. Fernandez (Edinboro): 6-1, 6-0
Korsakova (Salem) def. Poranski 6-2, 6-4
van der Berg def. Cave (West Chester): 6-4, 6-4
van der Berg def. Kastell (East Stroudsburg): 6-2, 3-6, 10-3
Korsakova (Salem) def. van der Berg: 6-4, 7-5




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