Lopers.com
The Loper tennis teams won 18 matches this weekend at the ITA Central Regional in Springfield, Missouri.
Hosted by Southwest Baptist, the singles and doubles tournament began Friday with finals in four brackets held Sunday. Winners advance to ITA Nationals October 11-15 in Rome, Georgia.
On the women’s side, UNK picked up 12 wins with sophomore Ana Royo (Spain) advancing to the quarterfinals of the “A” singles draw. Seeded fifth in a field of 64, she won three times before falling to Central Oklahoma’s Laetitia Charbonnet in straight sets. Royo needed three sets to get past Oklahoma Baptist’s Alex Bowers (4-6, 6-1, 10-3) in the second round.
Senior Amanda Alvarez (Spain) went 2-1 in this bracket, upsetting ninth-seed Kirtana Bhat of UCO (6-0, 2-6, 10-6) in the second round. She fell in straight sets to top seed Kornelia Staniszewska of Augustana in the round of 16.
In the “B” singles draw, freshman Lauren Koetter (McCook) and Faith Kowalski (Kearney H.S.) both won their first round matches with fellow first year player Claire Neil (Papillion) winning twice. Neil won her second match in three sets and then lost to Augie’s Grace Goble (4-6, 6-4, 10-7) in the quarters.
Finally, in doubles, seventh-seeded Royo and Emma Neil (Papillion) went 1-1.
Senior Joey Richards (Eden Prairie, Minn.) led the Loper men as he went 2-1 in singles. Seeded 14th, he won his first two matches in straight sets before losing to top seed Sherif Abohabaga of SBU. Senior Aaron Reekie(Houston) and junior Pepe Balado (Spain) were the other Lopers to notch wins in this bracket.
In men’s doubles, Richards and freshman Alberto Diaz (Spain) had one of the bigger upsets in the tournament as they beat second-seeded Galdi/Andrusch of OBU in the first round, 8-3. After a 9-7 win over Washburn, Richards and Diaz were stopped by a pair from NW Missouri State, 8-5.
UNK will take to the courts again in February.