BRUNSWICK, ME (September 20, 2024) -- The biggest event of the fall for the Tufts University women's tennis squad got underway on Friday at Bowdoin College, as the Jumbos competed in Day 1 of the 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional in Brunswick, Maine. Rain forced action inside during the first day of play, but Tufts still had some standout performances.
In singles play, first-year
Melanie Woodbury moved into the Round of 16 in the "A" singles draw thanks to a pair of victories. She started her day with a 6-0, 7-6 win over Ayla Hauser of Smith College before dusting past Amherst College's Lily Dounchis 6-2, 6-3. Woodbury, the No. 7 seed in the draw, will take on a seeded player in Bowdoin College's Jamilah Karah Saturday.
In other singles's play in the "A" draw, first-year
Athena Li knocked off Michaela Landry of Colby College 6-4, 6-2 before falling to No. 5 seed Sahana Raman of Middlebury College 6-2, 6-0. Junior
Ellie Gershaw won her first match of the day against Williams College's Annabelle Siegel 6-3, 6-7, 10-6 but was knocked off in the Round of 32 by Middlebury College's Nina Farhat 6-4, 6-4.
In the "B" singles' draw Tufts had two players move into Saturday's Round of 16 as first-year
Brooklyn Bindas knocked off Sanjana Kumar of Brandeis University. She will take on No. 5 seed Alessandra Cristiani of Babson Saturday. Sophomore transfer
Evelina Anastasi was seeded No. 3 and cruised into Saturday with an 8-2 in over Naisha Rathi of Trinity College. She will take on Babson's Elena Keitt tomorrow.
In doubles' action, the Jumbos saw a pair of teams advance into Round of 16 as the seeded pair of
Melanie Woodbury and sophomore
Natalie Hu knocked off Bella Suk and Ella Novion of Colby 8-7 (8). The duo will take on Raman and Farhat of Middlebury, seeded No. 5 in the draw, Saturday at 9 a.m.
There are just two unseeded teams in the final 16 pairs left, and Tufts has one of them as Gershaw and
Nikki Kintiroglou tallied two wins to get to Saturday. The Jumbo duo knocked off Maya Kowalska and Evin Cosar of Connecticut College 8-6 and then topped the No. 6 seed from Bowdoin 8-6. They will play the other unseeded tandem of Karolina Dobiecka and Tina She of Amherst Saturday.
Stephanie Woodbury and
Rachel Cranley opened the tournament with a 8-0 win over Julia Clark and Kendall Cedar of Trinity, but would fall to Amherst's seeded team of Katja Jules Viberg and Cody Huang, 8-6. Bindas and Li dropped their first doubles' match 8-0 to Zoe Sun and Suzanne Pogorelec of Bowdoin College.
Action will resume in Brunswick on Saturday at 9 a.m.
--JUMBOS--
