NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Last week, the Spartan men's and women's tennis teams competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Tournament. This event allows players to represent their universities and aim for regional and/or national rankings in singles and doubles early in the year.
"The men's and women's teams fought very hard this weekend," said assistant coach
Christian Hamilton. "The ITA Regional Tournament is always a great test to see where you stack up in the region. The commitment to our focus and effort in our practices this fall will shine through as we compete this semester and in the spring. I'm looking forward to seeing how this experience motivates everyone through the rest of the year."
Men's Tennis
Strahinja Radanovic,
Arkhip Tokmakov, and
Lucas Kzam all breezed through their opening two rounds. Several other Spartans, including
Danijel Blagojevic and
Nicolas Sanchez, also won their opening round of singles play before falling in the round of 32.
Radanovic dropped a 6-3, 6-2 decision in the round of 16 to the eventual tournament winner, Holy Cross' Perry Gregg. Tokmakov faced fellow Spartan
Lucas Kzam in the round of 16, winning 6-2, 7-5. In the quarterfinal, Tokmakov played Gregg, falling 6-1, 6-0.
In doubles, Radanovic and Tokmakov made it to the semifinals before losing a hard-fought match 8-4 against Holy Cross' McManus and Gregg, who went on to become the ITA Regional champions.
Alberto Pros Cieker, who lost in the first round, made an impressive comeback by winning four matches in a row to capture the consolation finals title. He defeated Olivet Nazarene's Paul Saleh 8-3 in the final.
Women's Tennis
Nirva Patel,
Yvonne Shannon, and
Mariana Azevedo easily won their opening rounds, while a few Spartans received byes to the next round.
In the round of 16,
Luana Luersen cruised past Holy Cross' Anna Vanderhyde 6-3, 6-1, and
Jocelynn Carmody defeated Judson's Erin Jacobs 7-5, 1-0 (retired). Patel and Shannon were defeated in straight sets in their respective matches.
Carmody fell in her quarterfinal match 6-1, 6-4 to Holy Cross' Jami Geoffreys. Luersen, however, defeated Holy Cross' Leah Gonzalez-Edwards 6-1, 6-2, and then went on to beat another Holy Cross player, Victoria Savvides, who was the ITA Regional singles champion in 2022, 7-6, 6-2.
On the final day of competition, Luersen played St. Francis University's Anna Bintsarovskaya in the women's singles final. Luersen finished as the ITA Regional runner-up, falling in straight sets but making Spartan Nation proud!
In doubles, Carmody and McIssac won their opening round 8-2 against Holy Cross' Vanderhyde and Woelfer. In the quarterfinals, they faced the fellow Spartan pair of Luersen and Patel, who won 8-1. Luersen and Patel then fell short in the semifinals, losing 8-5 to Holy Cross' Carvalho Rocha and Martinez, the eventual champions.
