The Eastern Michigan University women’s tennis team played very well the first two days of the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis.
Friday saw some impressive play from a few of the Eagles, including freshman Diana Davitaia and senior Nino Mebuke. They won their doubles match against Chelsea Bailey and Brittany Skemp from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee by a score of 8-0. They earned a match against Hannah Drake and Melissa Cecil from the Air Force Academy on Saturday, which they lost 8-3.
Another doubles team from EMU that played impressively on Friday was freshman Klara Supejova and senior Mariya Toncheva. Their first match was against Ellen Silver and Caitlin Hindmarsh from the University of Iowa and they won by a score of 8-5, also earning a trip to the winner’s bracket. Their match on Saturday pitted them against another team from the Air Force Academy. They won Saturday’s match against Natasha Rizvi and Christine Molina 8-5, moving on to Saturday’s semifinal round. In their semifinal match, they faced another Golden Gopher team consisting of Julia Courter and Aria Lambert. Supejova and Toncheva won, moving on to Sunday’s Final.
The third doubles team from EMU did not fare so well on Friday. Junior Ankita Bhatia and sophomore Daphne Frederichs lost 8-2 to the hometown Golden Gopher team of Jessika Mozia and Paula Rincon-Otero. Their struggles continued on Saturday, losing their consolation bracket matches against Bailey and Skemp from Wisconsin-Milwaukee by a score of 9-7 and the University of Northern Iowa’s team of Chelsea Moore and Jessica King by a score of 8-4. Mozia and Rincon-Otero later lost a quarterfinal match, earning themselves a match with EMU’s Davitala and Mebuke. The latter defeated the hometown team by a score of 8-5.
In singles play, the ladies were just as impressive. Supejova faced Molina in a one-on-one match and came out victorious (7-6, (7), 6-2). In her next match, she defeated Lambert in straight sets (6-3, 6-2), moving on to the winner’s bracket on Saturday. In her lone match of the day, she faced Morven McColloch from the University of Iowa and won in three sets (3-6, 6-0, 6-1). She earned a finals match on Sunday.
Arguably the most impressive singles wins for the Eagles came at the hands of Davitaia. She won both of her matches on Friday in straight sets. She first won against Michaela Burroughs from St. Catherine’s University (6-0, 6-0) and then defeated Maddy Soule from Wisconsin-Milwaukee (6-4, 6-4). In her semifinal match, she defeated Tiffany Tran from the Air Force Academy, again in straight sets (6-4, 6-1), earning herself a finals match on Sunday.
As of press date, the results of the finals matches were not available.
Following the Gopher Invitational, the Eagles have two more tournaments. The first is the FIU Panther Invitational in Miami Sept. 28-30. The second is the Air Force Invitational from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Oct. 5-7.
