TYLER, TEXAS – UT Tyler women's tennis will have plenty to build on as Yona Bancarel made a deep run in singles and doubles with teammate Natalia Gorzny and plenty of other Patriots enjoyed success.
 
THURSDAY
 
Action began on Thursday at 8 a.m., and Bancarel got off to a hot start as she took a 6-1, 6-1 win as the #1 overall seed in the singles bracket. She would nearly one-up herself in her second round match at 11:30 as she took a 6-0, 6-2 win, advancing herself into the round of 16.
 
Natalia Gorzny earned the #4 seed in the tournament draw and would also begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday. There, she took a gritty 64, 6-3 win to advance. She continued the strong start at 11:30, taking a 6-1, 7-5 win to book her own spot in the round of 16 on Friday.
 
Joining the party in the round of 16 would be newcomer and #16 seed Hailey Zhang, who took a 6-2, 7-5 win in her first round matchup before a marathon 6-7 (6-8), 6-0, 10-2 win in her second round match.
 
Luisa Moraes and Maria Antonio Ortega would each drop their opening matches, but they each picked up a win in the first round of the consolation bracket in scores of 6-0, 6-2 and 6-4, 6-3 to advance.
 
In doubles, Bancarel and Gorzny combined for a pair of 8-1 wins as the #1 seed on Thursday, cruising to the quarterfinal round after a pair of crushing wins.
 
The pairs of Emily Ryan/Sabrina Pugh and Moraes/Antonio Ortega would also add wins in their opening round matches, but each faced off with ranked opponents in the second round and ultimately dropped their round of 16 contests.
 
The pair of Claudia Di Leonardo and Zhang would drop their opening match and head to the consolation bracket, where they made a comeback with an 8-6 win to head into the quarterfinals.
 
FRIDAY
 
After the long day of action on Thursday, Bancarel got right back to work at 8 a.m. on Friday with a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 win to book her spot in the quarterfinals. She got a short break and answered the call again with a 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) win in that round to move into the semifinals.
 
For Gorzny and Zhang, their singles runs would come to a close in the round of 16, as Gornzy fell 3-6, 4-6 to the #12 seed, while Zhang fell 3-6, 2-6 in her match.
 
For Antonio Ortega in the consolation bracket, she would battle back from a 3-6 loss with sets of 6-1 and 10-4 to take her match and move into the quarterfinals, but would ultimately fall and conclude her tournament.
 
Moraes kept up the strong work from Thursday, taking a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win in the round of 16, and then following that up with a 6-3, 3-6, 12-10 win in the quarterfinals to move into the semifinal round on Saturday.
 
Back in doubles, Bancarel and Gorzny kept it rolling with an 8-5 win in their quarterfinal match, setting up a matchup with the #4 seed in the semifinals. There the duo would ultimately see the end of their tournament after an 8-3 defeat.
 
Di Leonardo and Zhang followed up their consolation opening win with an 8-2 win on Friday to continue their march. They found themselves in the semifinals, but would fall to the #2 seed 8-1 to close out their doubles run.
 
SATURDAY
 
On Saturday, the Patriots would see Bancarel and Moraes take the stage as they battled it out in the semifinals of the main draw and consolation draw in singles.
 
Moraes would battle to a 6-1, 6-3 win in her match, booking her spot in the finals. In the finals however she would face off with the #2 seed and fall 6-0, 6-1 to finish as runner-up.
 
For Bancarel, she faced off against the #3 seed in her semifinal match. Bancarel would put up a tough effort, but ultimately fell 6-2, 6-2 to close out her tournament effort.

With the finish for Bancarel in singles and Bancarel and Gorzny in doubles, they will each be under consideration for the ITA Cup at-large bids that will come out in early October.