ARLINGTON, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's tennis wrapped up play at the ITA South Central Regional Tournament on Saturday as the Patriots put up several strong efforts throughout the tournament in both singles and doubles.
Play began on Thursday morning with singles action, and in the main draw six different Patriots would battle it out.
Yona Bancarel got things going as she pulled away in a 6-2, 6-2 straight sets win to advance into the round of 32. However, despite the tough battles from the remaining Patriots in their respective matches, Bancarel would be the lone Patriot to advance in the draw.
In her second round match, Bancarel would face off with #14 seed Mariia Koroleva of Lubbock Christian. The pair would be neck and neck through one set, but Koroleva took a dramatic 7-3 win in a tiebreaker to move ahead with the first set. In the second set it was neck and neck yet again, but Koroleva pulled away late with a 7-5 win to advance to the round of 16 and eliminate Bancarel.
In the consolation bracket of the main singles draw,
Elisa Buhagiar and
Paula Castellanos each found success as they claimed a pair of wins. Buhagiar pulled off a thrilling comeback in her first match to claim a 4-6, 7-6, 10-8 win and advance into the round of 16. There, she looked in total control, taking a 6-3, 6-4 straight sets win to move into the quarterfinals of the bracket.
Behind Buhagiar was Castellanos, who looked strong with a 6-3, 6-1 straight sets win in her first match of the consolation bracket. In the round of 16, she improved even more, advancing to the quarterfinals with a 6-0, 6-1 straight sets win.
Those wins set up an all-Patriots matchup, but Buhagiar was unable to compete, giving Castellanos the pass into the semifinals. There, she battled it out with Guadalupe Tocci of Texas A&M-Kingsville. Tocci narrowly took a 6-4 win in set one, and rode that momentum to a 6-2 win in set two to advance to the finals and end the run for Castellanos.
In the B draw of singles,
Emily Ryan would get a win in her opening match as she pulled off a thrilling tiebreaker win in scores of 7-6, 4-6, 11-9 to take the win and move into the next round. However, she would fall by scores of 7-6, 6-2 in the second round and bow out of the draw.
That set up the final Patriot in singles in
Carla Rodier. Rodier looked completely dominant in the first round, taking a 6-0, 6-2 win. In round two, her and her opponent split 6-3, 3-6 over the first two sets before Rodier took a 15-13 win in the third set tiebreaker to advance into the quarterfinals.
Rodier continued her run on Friday in those quarterfinals with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 straight sets win, and then she kept the momentum up with a 6-3, 6-1 straight sets win to advance to the finals of the B draw.
However, that is where her run would end as she fell by a score of 6-2, 6-2 to finish as a runner up.
In the main draw of doubles competition, the Patriots battled with three different pairs, but unfortunately all three would fall in their opening round contests and move into the consolation bracket.
In that consolation bracket they found their stride, starting with the pair of Castellanos /
Kanika Sivaraman. That pair took a huge 8-0 win in their first match to move to the quarterfinals, but they would go on to narrowly fall 8-6 in their next match to bow out.
Rodier / Ryan would pair up for an 8-4 win to move into the quarterfinals themselves, and they continued their strong play with a dramatic 8-7 (7-4) win to move into the semifinals of the consolation bracket.
There, they would meet the pair of Bancarel and
Allison Schwartz, who rolled to an 8-0 win in their opening match and then moved into the semifinals by way of retirement.
That set up an all-Patriots semifinal, but the pair of Bancarel / Schwartz would not allow it to be close as they pulled away with an 8-1 win to advance to the finals of the consolation bracket.
There, the pair continued their dominant form, taking an 8-4 win over the pair of Isabella Garza / Alessia Dolce of Midwestern State to secure their status as consolation bracket champions.
The Patriots now look ahead to the spring season and the dual match portion of their schedule as they pursue their first ever trip to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament.
