Picking up right where they left off at the Missouri Valley Conference Individual Championships, the University of Evansville women’s tennis team had a strong opening day of the ITA Ohio Valley Regional.
In the main draw, Diana Tkachenko opened play against Olha Burak of UT Martin and earned the win, 6-3, 6-1. Next up for her on Friday is Sadie Hammond from the University of Tennessee. Chieko Yamada fell in her main draw contest against Claudia Yanes Garcia of Austin Peay, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Evansville went 4-1 in B Draw singles. Theodora Soldatou had an impressive win as she defeated Vanderbilt’s Payton Robinette, 6-1, 6-2. She faces Purdue’s Rafaela Baquerizo next. Daria Pentsova got past Annie Tarwater of Chattanooga, 6-2, 7-6 (0). Next up for her is Suzanna Stapler of Belmont.
Nicoli Pereira defeated Sarah Beth Crowe of Belmont, 6-2, 6-2, and advances to play Margaux Lacroix of Eastern Kentucky in the second round on Friday. Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga was also victorious in her opening match-up, earning the win over Zoe Manion of Xavier, 6-2, 6-2. Up for her on Friday will be Mizuki Sakurai from UT Martin.
Marie Kapelevich dropped her contest against Kristina Tinsley from IUPUI, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4.
Main draw doubles saw Yamada and Soldatou earn an 8-4 win over Fitz-Randolph and Manion of Xavier. In the second round, they fell to the duo of Riley and Sawyer from Tennessee, 8-5.
Tkachenko and Pentsova went 2-0 in B Draw doubles. They opened up with an 8-3 win over Northern Kentucky before getting past Albertson and Kuppig of Austin Peay, 8-3. Their next opponents will be Dovnik of Purdue and Tarwater of Chattanooga. Pascual-Larrinaga and Pereira also went a perfect 2-0 on the day. They opened up with an 8-3 win over Lipscomb before getting past Schmidt-Jorgensen and Collins of Louisville, 8-1.
