PHILADELPHIA - The Penn State women’s tennis team concluded another productive fall tournament at the ITA Northeast Regional on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The Nittany Lions left their mark at the event with three doubles teams and three singles competitors reaching the quarterfinals at the tournament.
Olivia Dorner and Maiko Uchijima made the doubles championship for the second straight year, but the defending champions ultimately fell to Fordham’s Nevena Kolarevic and Julianne Nguyen in the title match.
Uchijima, a native of Tokyo, Japan reached the singles semifinals, ultimately taking third place with a 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Columbia’s No. 108 Gayathri Krishnan.
In total, the Blue & White won 32 matches across singles and doubles play. For singles, Brianna Baldi, Maria Daciana Ciubotaru, Ansley Cox, Patricia Grigoras and Uchijima won multiple matches. On the doubles front, the pairings of Cegarra and Grigoras, Cox and Monfils and Baldi and Ciubotaru joined Dorner and Uchijima with multiple victories.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first day consisted of qualifying singles with Cox, a freshman, competing for the Nittany Lions. The Vestavia, Alabama native quickly defeated Lehigh’s Giselle Vlassis in a 6-4, 6-1 decision.
In the next round, Cox rallied from dropping a tight first set to gut out a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 victory over Savannah Cohen of Rutgers. With the win, Cox advanced to the main draw of the singles tournament.
The second day opened with round of 64 doubles play where all 10 Nittany Lions competed. Cegarra and Grigoras started the day with an 8-2 triumph against Saint Joseph’s’ Wiktoria Czerny and Victoria Trace. A withdrawal from Columbia put Monfils and Cox in the next round.
Baldi and Ciubotaru teamed up to take down Columbia’s Michelle Li and Margaret Hui, 8-4. Dorner and Uchijima bested Wagner’s Liepa Sataite and Alexia Estrada, 8-4.
Katerina Dimitrova and Kate Zink fell in a hard-fought match to Drexel’s Anastasia Kavounov and Rebecca Fiedler, 8-6.
Penn State started round of 64 singles off hot. Baldi made quick work of NJIT’s Paula Menendez with a resounding 6-3, 6-2 win. Cox carried her momentum from prequalifying singles the day before into a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Rider’s Claire Brown. Uchijima, who began her career at Temple, defeated current Owl Marianthi Christoforidou, 7-5, 6-3.
Monfils, Dorner and Cegarra all dropped heartbreakers in three sets. Monfils fell to Laura Wipfli of NJIT with a final score of 7-5, 0-6, 7-6. Dorner came up short to Penn’s Jo-Leen Saw, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5. Cegarra failed to overcome an early deficit against Rutgers’ Zeynep Ilker in a 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 final.
Grigoras put the Blue & White back in the win column with a 7-6, 6-1 triumph over Farleigh Dickinson’s Anastasia Lim before Ciubotaru closed out day one with a dominant 6-4, 6-0 win against Seton Hall’s Anastasia Sereda. In total, four doubles teams and five singles competitors advanced to the round of 32.
Day three of the event started with consolation singles play. The Nittany Lions dominated their matchups, winning all three in straight sets. Dorner, a senior, defeated Villanova’s Olivia Corcoran, 6-2, 6-4. Juniors Monfils and Cegarra took down Drexel’s Sofia Snitko, 6-1, 6-3, and Lehigh’s Maggie Forkner, 6-4, 6-3, respectively.
PSU sent four singles players to the round of 16. Baldi began main draw singles action with a commanding, 6-1, 6-1, victory against Lehigh’s Lena Dogadalski. Uchijima defeated Delaware’s Maryia Hrynashka, 6-2, 6-3. Grigoras bested Penn’s Lara Stojanovski, 6-4, 6-2 before Ciubotaru closed out singles with a 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Delaware’s Paulina Jurkowska.
Cox’s three-match winning streak ended in a 7-6, 6-1 decision against Columbia’s Malak El Allami. The freshman showed promise in her run from prequalifying singles to the round of 32.
On the doubles side, both the round of 32 and the round of 16 were played consecutively to close out the third day. In the round of 32, all four Nittany Lion pairs advanced to the top 16. Monfils and Cox took down Villanova’s Lauren Monti and Jenna Stevens, 8-4. Cegarra and Grigoras owned their match against Long Island’s Jenna Svatos and Mia Tsoukalas, 8-1. The tandem of Baldi and Ciubotaru continued to prove effective with a hard-fought 8-6 win over Charlotta Buss and Giulia Bizzari of Saint John’s. To finish the round, Dorner and Uchijima blanked Temple’s Thamara Frasser Kawaratani and Christoforidou, 8-0.
Three of those four doubles teams would advance to the quarterfinals, making up nearly half of the remaining field. Cegarra and Grigoras fell in an 8-2 decision to Delaware’s Hrynashka and Jurkowska.
Monfils and Cox made the top eight with another excellent showing. The junior and freshman duo defeated Stony Brook’s Elena Lobo Corral and Paisha Douglas, 8-2. Baldi and Ciubotaru took down Rutgers’ Mai Nguyen and Naomi Karki while the defending doubles champions, Dorner and Uchijima, triumphed over Esha Velaga and Lara Stojanovski of Penn. Both matches went final with scores of 8-4.
The fourth day of play began with round of 16 singles action that saw three Nittany Lions advance to the quarterfinals with all wins coming in straight sets. Baldi made the top eight with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Fordham’s Paola Ueno Dalmonico. Uchijima took down Columbia’s El Allami, 7-5, 6-0 before Grigoras advanced with a win against Princeton’s Isabella Chhiv, 6-4, 6-3.
Ciubotaru was forced to retire after dropping the first set, 7-5, to No. 108 Krishnan of Columbia. Her quarterfinals doubles match with Baldi against Princeton’s Anna Maria Fedotova and Madeleine Jessup did not start because of retirement.
Uchijima reached the singles final four with a thrilling, three set victory. She picked up a 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 win over Princeton’s Eva Elbaz.
Grigoras’ run concluded in the quarterfinals, falling to Columbia’s No. 108 Krishnan, 6-3, 6-4. Baldi dropped a back-and-forth match against Penn’s No. 78 Velaga, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.
In the doubles quarterfinals, Monfils and Cox fell in a tight match, 8-7, to Hrynashka and Jurkowska of Delaware. To close out day four, Dorner and Uchijima continued their winning ways with a gritty win against Princeton’s Pearlie Zhang and Tsehay Driscoll. The defending champions reached the semifinals in an 8-6 decision. For Uchijima, it placed her in the top four of both singles and doubles.
The fifth day consisted of two semifinals matches with Penn State splitting them. Uchijima dropped to No. 78 Velaga, 7-6, 6-1, on the singles front before pairing with Dorner to earn a 6-4, 7-6 doubles win over Princeton’s Fedotova and Jessup. The victory earned them a spot in the doubles championship.
On the final day of play, Uchijima took down Columbia’s No. 108 Krishnan to begin the day. She finished a successful singles run in third place.
In the doubles championship match, Dorner and Uchijima fell to Fordham’s Kolarevic and Nguyen, 6-3, 7-5.
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