Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell women's tennis showed its skill in both the singles and doubles draws at the ITA Regional Championship from Thursday, Oct. 10 to Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Harvard.
The singles tournament standout for Cornell was freshman Sage Loudon, who made it to the quarter-finals in the singles competition before being knocked out. The Cornell standouts in the doubles competition was the doubles team of Loudon and senior Jenny Wong, who made it to the quarter-final round of the doubles main draw. With Loudon's quarter-final finish in singles competition, she has qualified for the ITA Sectional Championships at UNC from Thursday, Nov. 7 - Sunday, Nov. 10.
In singles competition, Loudon began her journey in the qualifying singles draw where she had to win two matches to advance to the main singles draw. Loudon first faced Lauren Han from Dartmouth and won in three sets after dropping the first (3-6, 6-0, 6-3). She then moved on to face Bartyzel Ola Ira from Sacred Heart, whom she defeated in two straight sets (6-0, 7-5). These two victories were enough to earn Loudon a spot in the singles main draw. She began with a match against Ahana Nagarkatti from Holy Cross where she won in two sets (6-0, 6-1). She was then matched up against Boston College's Tola Glowacka in three sets with the second set ending in a tiebreaker loss (6-3, 6(4)-( 77), 7-5). Loudon then made the round of 32 and was put up against Shyla Aggarwai from Yale who she beat in two sets (6-2, 6-3). Then, in the round of sixteen match-up against Boston College's Olivia Benton, Loudon lost in two sets (4-6, 2-6) to end her run in the singles regional championships.
Sophomore Victoria Zhao was another Cornell player who entered the tournament in the qualifying singles draw and made it to the main draw. Zhao made it by defeating Dartmouth's Alexandra Dewire in two sets (6-3, 6-1) and Anna Neyestani from Fairfield in three sets (6-2, 2-6, 6-2). Once in the main draw, Zhao faced Natalia Aruj from Binghamton and won in two sets (6-1, 6-4). In the round of 64, she was placed up against Natalie Eordekian from Boston College and that is where the tournament ended for Zhao as she lost in two sets (4-6, 4-6).
Junior Emma Baker faced off against Maria Constantinou from the University of Connecticut in her first match of the qualifying singles round and won in two sets with a tiebreaker in the second (6-3, 7-6(4)). She then played Isabella Hu from Brown and lost in two straight sets (2-6, 0-6).
Wong, senior Seychelle Balog and freshman Andrea Martinez also competed in the singles qualifying round but they were knocked out of the tournament in their first matches all losing in two sets.
Also in the singles competition for Cornell was sophomore Michelle Ryndin who qualified for the singles main draw of the tournament and did not have to play her way in from the qualifying draw. Ryndin began the main draw with a match against Katharina Spieth from the University of Rhode Island where she won in three sets after dropping the first (1-6, 6-4, 6-2). Ryndin then faced off against Boston University's Madison Liu and won that match-up in three sets as well (6-4, 3-6, 0-6). In the round of 32, Ryndin was tasked with a match against Phoebe Peus and fell to the Brown University athlete in two sets (6-7(8), 5-7).
Cornell also had four duo representatives in the doubles main draw of the regional championships, with Loudon and Wong leading the charge.
Loudon and Wong started their doubles play with a match against Natalie Block and Maxi Duncan from Harvard. The duo defeated the Crimson 8-6 to move on to the next round. They then played Isabelle Hu and Hannah Shen from Brown. The match went into a tiebreaker and the Big Red squad came out on top 8-7(6). Loudon and Wong then had to face off against Julia Werdiger and Erin Ha from Yale to secure a spot in the quarterfinals. The duo defeated the Bulldogs 8-6. In their quarterfinal match-up Loudon and Wong fell to Dartmouth's Peyton Capuano and Michela Moore 5-8, ending their doubles main draw run in the regional tournament.
Balog and Martines as well as sophomore Martina Marica and junior Tanya Fan and Zhao and Baker all lost their first doubles match of the regional tournament in three sets.
Overall, the Big Red had a strong showing at the ITA Regional Championship and freshman Sage Loudon shone in both her singles and doubles matches at the event.
Cornell women's tennis will take back to the courts on Friday, Oct. 25 for the Ivy Invitational at Penn.
