This past weekend, the Lady Vols Tennis team traveled to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for the ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships.
Gabby Schuck, Johanna Silva, Ariadna Riley, Tenika McGiffin, Chelsea Sawyer and Sadie Hammond were the six Lady Vols who participated.
Riley and Hammond had first round byes in the singles draw, while Hammond and Schuck, who competed in doubles, also earned a first-round bye.
On the first day of the tournament, the Lady Vols got off to a quick start, going 5-0 in doubles play and 3-1 in singles. All three of the Vols’ doubles teams advanced to the round of 16 with some impressive performances. The teams of McGiffin-Silva and Riley-Sawyer both finished 2-0 on the day.
After their first-round bye, Hammond and Schuck downed a duo from Miami, Ohio, 8-3 to progress in the tournament.
In singles competition, Schuck, Silva and McGiffin each defeated their opponents. With those victories, five Vols secured spots in the second-round draws.
On the second day, Tennessee continued its stellar play in singles and doubles.
Hammond conquered Diana Tkachenko from Evansville in the round of 64 and Cincinnati’s Iona Guna in the round of 32 to move on for a chance to battle for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Schuck and Silva got off to great starts, but they both fell in the round of 32. Schuck beat Vanderbilt’s Lauren Gish in the round of 64, and Silva won a three set battle against Karoline Haller from Wright State.
In doubles play, Hammond and Shuck dominated Guna and Morton of Cincinnati 8-4, and Riley and Sawyer crushed ETSU’s Markesini and Pereira 8-4 as well.
In singles, Sawyer picked up her first win in the tournament in the consolation draw when she defeated Mariella Pessina from IUPUI.
On Saturday, Hammond and Shuck secured a spot in the semifinals with a victory over fourth-seeded duo of Meyer and Dvorak from Vanderbilt 8-5.
Hammond had an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals in singles competition, facing off against Mami Adachi from the University of Kentucky, but she fell with a 6-2, 6-3 loss.
McGiffin, Sawyer, Schuck and Riley all picked up wins in their consolation draws on the day.
On Sunday, the last of the Vols still participating in draws finally faltered.
Hammond and Schuck threw down with the top-seeded duo of Adachi and Parazinskaite from Kentucky in the doubles bracket semifinals. The Lady Vols dropped the first set, but rallied with an impressive second set. However, the Wildcats forced a tiebreaker and eventually overtook the Tennessee duo.
Riley and Sawyer again picked up wins in the consolation draw with wins against Purdue’s Babic and Dovnik.
The Lady Vols swing into action again Oct. 27-29 in Knoxville to play host at the annual Tennessee Fall Invite.
