MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Kentucky women’s tennis completed play at the 2024 ITA Regional Championships, Oct. 10-15, at the Middle Tennessee State Tennis Complex.
Five Wildcats, Tess Bucher, Zoe Hammond, Asuncion Jadue, Ellie Myers and Julia Zhu, represented the Wildcats throughout the five day tournament. Hammond and Zhu saw quarterfinal appearances in singles play while two UK doubles teams struggled to advance past the first round of competition.
Singles
Freshman Jadue was victorious in two sets over Miami’s Sara Zalukar, 6-2, 7-5. However, in her next round of the tournament against Louisville’s Berta Miret, she did not find the same success. After three sets, Miret overcame Jadue 5-7, 7-5, 7(8)-6(6).
Fellow freshman Bucher also found first round victory as she came out on top against her MTSU opponent, Eloise Swarbrick, 6-0, 6-2. Bucher won her next battle against Indiana’s Elisabeth Dunac, 6-2, 6-4. The battle did not stop there as she prepared for her next opponent, Elisabeth Iila from Louisville. Bucher and Iila went head-to-head for three tough sets before Bucher ultimately found victory, 6(1)-7(7), 6-4, 7(7)-6(1). Bucher’s successful streak came to an end as she was defeated by ETSU’s Daniela Rivera in the next round, 2-6, 1-6.
Coming off a great tournament run at the Wahoowa Invitational, Zhu took to the court with hopes of another successful weekend. Her first matchup was against Tennessee’s Vanesa Suarez who she defeated in two sets, 7-5, 6-3. In her second round of the contest, she faced MTSU’s Alessia Truden. Zhu came out on top in three sets after losing the first 5-7 and coming back for redemption in the next two, 6-2, 7(7)-6(2). She continued for a third-round win over Murray State’s Valeria Chaikovskaia who she defeated 6-3, 6-1. Zhu’s streak of success came to a close in the quarterfinal round of competition as Purdue’s Carmen Gallardo Guevara was victorious 5-7, 6-3, 6-1.
Sophomore Myers played through three rounds of singles competition starting with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Sofia Blanco of Western Kentucky. She then went on to find another victory against Rozalie Dohnalova (UT Chattanooga), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. However, her run came to an end in the third round against Xavier’s Elizabeth Pendergast, 2-6, 6(2)-7(7).
Fellow sophomore Hammond faced Southern Indiana’s Antonia Ferrarini in her first contest winning 6-3, 6-1. She then went on to find success again in her next matchup against Trinetra Vijayakumar (Vanderbilt), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, followed by her third match versus Lika Persypkina (Louisville) who she overcame 7(7)-6(2), 6-2. Hammond’s victorious run ended in the quarterfinal round of the tournament as she fell to Vanderbilt’s Bridget Stammel, 4-6, 0-6.
Doubles
Following a strong showing in singles play, the Cats teamed up for doubles competition starting with Bucher and Zhu. The pair fell to Tennessee’s tandem of Conley Raidt and Sami Yli-Piipari, 7(3)-8(7).
Kentucky’s second pairing of Hammond and Jadue also saw first-round defeat falling 0-8 to East Tennessee’s Alessandra Caceres and Rivera.
The ETSU pair fought their way to the quarterfinals while the Tennessee team met their demise in the semifinal round of the contest.
Up Next
The Wildcats will head to the Vanderbilt Invite for their next tournament of the 2024 fall schedule at the end of the week. The Invite will begin on Friday, Oct. 25 and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 27.
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