Six out of eight University of Evansville women’s tennis players are headed to Sunday’s finals as the Purple Aces wrapped up the first day of the Evansville Metro Collegiate Invite on Saturday at Wesselman Park.
At flight one singles, Sunday will feature an all-Evansville final as Diana Tkachenko and Chieko Yamada will square off. Tkachenko opened the day with a win over Asel Jumamukhambetova of UT Martin, 6-3, 2-6, 6-0. In round two, she got past Jennifer Skonieczny of Bellarmine, 6-0, 6-4.
Yamada’s path to the finals started with a triumph over USI’s Lauren Hambrock, 6-4, 6-0. In round two, she clinched her spot in the finals by defeating Nina Linke of Northern Alabama, 6-1, 7-6.
Daria Pentsova advanced to the finals in flight two. After defeating Maggie Walroth of Bellarmine in the opening round, Pantsova got past Claudia Arroyo of UNI, 6-1, 6-3.
Another final will feature two Purple Aces as flight three will see Andrea Pascual-Larrinaga and Maria Kapelevich picked up two wins apiece. Pascual-Larrinaga started the day with a win over Bellarmine’s Ava Ratcliff before her second-round match-up saw her beat Belmont’s Sarah Brackin, 6-3, 6-0. Kapelevich got past USI’s Anna McDonald, 6-1, 6-1, to start the day before she beat Elina Geut of UT Martin, 6-1, 6-1.
Flight four singles saw Nicoli Pereira go 2-0 on her way to a finals match on Sunday. She defeated Nikki Christiansen of Belmont, 6-2, 6-1, before moving past Mizuki Sakurai of UTM, 3-6, 6-1, 6-3. In flight five, Theodora Soldatou picked up a win over Natalyn Jones of Belmont before falling to UNA’s Nele Seitz in the second round. Leah Helpingstine was defeated in her 6th-flight match against BU’s Sarah Beth Crowe, 6-2, 6-0.
At #1 doubles, Tkachenko and Pentsova fell to UNA in the first round while Yamada and Soldatou got past USI before falling to UT Martin in their second match-up.
Pascual-Larrinaga and Pereira punched their ticket to the final round in flight two doubles as they took down Bellarmine and Belmont while the duo of Kapelevich and Helpingstine fell in their first doubles contest in the third flight.
Sunday’s final day is set for another 9 a.m. start at Wesselman Park. Admission is free.
