Missouri tennis closed out its ITA Regional Championships this weekend, see the recap here.
The University of Missouri women’s tennis team finished its weekend at the ITA Regional Championships with 14 total victories. They amassed eight singles and six doubles victories over the span of four days.
Senior Romary Cardneas Rifka qualified for the main draw after winning her first two singles matches. She defeated Angelina Jao from St. Louis University (6-1, 6-2), and Sumomo Hamanaga from University of Central Arkansas (6-3, 6-7, 10-3). She also defeated Kylin Sader from Kansas on the last day of the tournament (2-6, 6-3, 10-7). The doubles duo of Rifka and graduate student Gabriela Martinez secured victories over Kansas State University (8-4) and St. Louis University (8-3).
Senior Mae Canete advanced to the Round of 16 in singles, where she had previously defeated Malvika Shulka of Creighton University (6-0, 6-2), and Laura Baroja of University of Missouri – Kansas City (6-1, 6-2). Junior Inah Canete won two singles matches over the weekend, defeating Zdena Safarova of Oklahoma (6-2, 6-2), and Kristina Kudryavtseva of Wichita State (4-6, 6-3, 6-3).
The doubles duo of Mae Canete and Inah Canete advanced to the quarterfinals on Day three of regionals, previously defeating Kansas State, Creighton University, and Nebraska. They defeated Kansas 8-5, which took them to the semifinals where they would eventually fall to Oklahoma (6-3, 6-1).
Overall, Coach Turati had positive things to say about the tournament.
“[Those were] tough conditions to play high-quality tennis,” head coach Bianca Turati said. “Four very windy days in Lawrence. But the group competed well overall.”
Turati also commented on the performance of the Canete sisters.
“[They] had a great run in doubles, only losing in the semifinals against the No. 1 seed and proving they can play at a very high level,” Turati said.“We are making progress, but we absolutely need to keep up the work at practice and compete even harder at the UCA and Bulldogs Classic Invites to get ready for the spring season.”
The Missouri Tigers continue their season Oct. 27-28 at the UCA Invitational in Conway, Arkansas.
Edited by Chase Gemes | cgemes@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Grace Knight