Three Singles Players and Two Doubles Tandems Advance at Regional
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Updated Singles & Doubles | Tournament Homepage
Oct. 19, 2014
BLACKSBURG, Va. – Three Virginia women’s singles players and a pair of doubles tandems moved on to the quarterfinals to highlight Sunday (Oct. 19) action at the USTA/ITA Atlantic Regional Championship at Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va.
No. 1 seed Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas), No. 4 seed Marie Faure (Toulouse, France) and No. 9-16 seed Skylar Morton (Bethesda, Md.) each won a pair of singles matches to move onto tomorrow’s quarterfinal round. Nauta beat Navy’s Amanda Keller and Marshall’s Derya Turhan by identical 6-0, 6-1 scores. Faure defeated George Washington’s Teodora Radosavljevic 7-6(4), 6-1 and Richmond’s Anna Abadias 6-2, 6-1. Morton topped Penn State’s Taylor Shukow 7-6(4), 6-0 and William & Mary’s Jeltje Loomans 6-4, 6-0.
The UVa doubles tandems of Nauta and Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.) and Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.Va.) and Morton won their lone doubles matches. Nauta and Epstein beat Liberty’s Evangeline Crist and Valerie Thong 8-5. Mercer and Morton defeated Old Dominion’s Marijana Novakovic and Ivana Vukovic 8-0.
In other singles action, Epstein and Mercer each went 1-1. Epstein posted a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 win over Virginia Tech’s Sansitha Nandakumar before dropping a 6-1, 6-3 decision to Maryland’s Alexandra Stanova. Mercer defeated Penn State’s Victoria Kisialeva 7-5, 6-3 before losing 4-6, 7-6, 6-3 to Old Dominion’s Nikol Hristova.
Representatives from 22 other Atlantic Region schools are competing with UVa in the tournament. Joining the Cavaliers are: Virginia Tech, Maryland, William & Mary, VCU, Penn State, James Madison, Richmond, Pittsburgh, Georgetown, Liberty, Radford, Temple, UMBC, Navy, Old Dominion, George Washington, St. Joseph’s, Longwood, Duquesne, Delaware, Marshall and Norfolk State.
The winners of the singles and doubles draw will receive automatic berths to the ITA National Indoor Championships, held Nov. 6-9 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.
Singles and doubles action continues Monday. Fans can follow the tournament at www.hokiesports.com/wtennis/brackets.