SURPRISE, ARIZONA – UT Tyler women's tennis will close the books on one of their best seasons in program history in the NCAA Quarterfinals after falling 4-1 to No. 2 seed Grand Valley State on Wednesday evening.
The Patriots made their first ever appearance at the NCAA final site in 2026 and their first ever appearance in the quarterfinals. This was also their first ever trip to the NCAA Tournament in the program's Division II era.
The Lakers would take the early advantage in the contest by winning the ever-important doubles point. The first of the two wins came from the #3 line, where they would take a 6-2 win. In the #2 line,
Paula Castellanos and
Maria Antonio Ortega battled to a 3-3 score through six games, but the Lakers would answer with three straight wins to take a 6-3 win and a 1-0 lead.
Grand Valley State would tack on another point in the #1 line to make it 2-0, and then made it 3-0 just minutes later after another straight sets win in the #6 line.
That would put the Patriots backs against the wall, but Ortega would get them on the board in line #3. After going 1-1 through two games, she ripped off four straight game wins to build a big lead. The Lakers would battle back to 5-4, but Ortega added the final game to take the first set. Set two saw the Lakers take the opening game, but an avalanche of wins from Ortega saw her win six straight games and take a 6-1 second set to make it 3-1.
Across the remaining matches, the trio of
Natalia Gorzny,
Hailey Zhang, and
Carla Rodier each would force three sets and extend the Patriots hopes of a big comeback.
Both Rodier and Zhang would each hold a narrow lead in the third set after splitting their first two, but the Lakers would take the slim win over Gorzny to get their fourth point.
In that #2 line, Gorzny would battle back from a 1-3 deficit in the first set to take it 6-4. In set two, the Lakers responded with nearly the exact mirror score after falling behind 1-3 themselves before taking five straight games to even up the set count.
The final set would be back and forth, with neither player holding more than a game advantage all the way up to 4-4. It was there however that the match flipped, and the Lakers took the final two games and the set to earn their fourth point.
The Patriots cap off their season at a record of 20-8, their most in the Division II era and second most in a single season in program history, and they added their first ever LSC Regular Season title.
Doubles:
1. #27 Vale Mozas/N. Sengphrachanh (GV-W) vs. #8 Yona Bancarel/Natalia Gorzny (UTT) 2-5, unfinished
2. Mischa Briggs/Ipek Sakiroglu (GV-W) def. Maria Antonio Ortega/Paula Castellanos (UTT) 6-3
3. Amanda Diaz/Rachel Sam (GV-W) def. Carla Rodier/Hailey Zhang (UTT) 6-2
Singles:
1. #11 N. Sengphrachanh (GV-W) def. #9 Yona Bancarel (UTT) 6-0, 6-0
2. Mischa Briggs (GV-W) def. #50 Natalia Gorzny (UTT) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. Maria Antonio Ortega (UTT) def. Vale Mozas (GV-W) 6-4, 6-1
4. Ipek Sakiroglu (GV-W) vs. Hailey Zhang (UTT) 6-1, 3-6, 4-5, unfinished
5. Lauren Burkett (GV-W) vs. Carla Rodier (UTT) 5-7, 6-2, 2-1, unfinished
6. Amanda Diaz (GV-W) def. Paula Castellanos (UTT) 6-2, 6-3
