This past weekend, the Eastern Michigan University women’s tennis team traveled to Bloomington, Ind. to take part in the Hoosier Classic, while senior Nino Mebuke and sophomore Klara Supejova competed at the ITA All-American Championships in Los Angeles, Calif.
In Los Angeles, the doubles team of Mebuke and Supejova fell to Texas A&M’s Ines Deheza and Rutuja Bhosale 8-3 in the final round.
In Bloomington, the Eagles saw action in both singles and doubles over the three days of the tournament held Sept. 27-29. The tournament was individual based and featured players from Indiana University, University of Cincinnati, Western Michigan University and Kansas State University.
On the first day of the tournament freshman Maria Paula Ribero picked up the Eagles’ only singles win of the day in the Green Draw, defeating Western Michigan’s Yuriko Ono, 6-2, 6-3. This was the second win of Ribero’s collegiate career.
In the Crimson Draw, junior Ankita Bhatia also suffered a defeat (6-2, 6-2) by IU’s Shannon Murdy in the Gold Draw. Daphene Friedrichs took care Barbare Eristavi of Western in three sets – victorious in set one, 7-6 but falling in set two, 6-3 and the tiebreaker 1-0.
In doubles, Bhatia and senior Mariya Toncheva successfully took University of Cincinnati’s Sierra Sullivan and Lauren Bellinger, 8-6.
On day two, Toncheva earned the only singles win for the Eagles.
She defeated Western’s Tracy Kuhle 6-0. In the Green Draw, Ribero fell to Cincinnati’s Bellinger, 6-1, 6-0, making it her first defeat at EMU.
The EMU duo of Ribero and senior Zsofia Biro brought in the only doubles win by only giving up two points to UC. Toncheva and Bhatia fell to Cincinnati 8-3 while Toncheva and Bhatia also fell to Indiana, 8-1, in round two of doubles play on the second day of the tournament.
The EMU women’s tennis team had its final day of action at the Hoosier Classic on Sunday, Sept. 29. Toncheva was the sole team member to pick up a victory out of the four singles matches the Eagles played. She picked up a victory over Ono in a tiebreaker.
Head coach Ryan Ray reflected on the results of the tournament. “We weren’t the healthiest on the weekend, but that is part of competing,” Ray said.
“You have to fight through it sometimes. We should have time to get healthier for the regional in two weeks, and I expect a sharp performance.”
Looking Ahead:
The Eagles will resume play in Ann Arbor October 10-13 at the ITA Midwest Regional.
