Missouri Tennis opened up their fall tournament schedule competing in the Penn Invitational. Playing at the Hamlin and Hecht Tennis Centers, the Tigers teamed up with Delaware to compete against Temple, and they came out with a solid start on day one.

The Tigers played three doubles matches and three singles matches, bringing back six wins. 

Freshmen Korina Roso and Inah Canete were especially impressive, winning both of their doubles matches, defeating Temple’s Thamara Frasser Kawaratani and Marianthi Christoforidou 8-4, and then Martyna Mackiewicz and Nina Andreoni 8-3. Graduate student Lailaa Bashir and freshman Gian Octa also won their doubles match 8-3 against Temple’s Irmak Ozturk and Kelly Ritcher. 

In singles play, Canete played in the No. 1 spot and won 6-3 and 6-3 against Ritcher. Bashir followed up with a 7-5 and 6-4 victory over Maria Wang Martinez andOcta winning 6-1 and 7-6 against Shevita Aulana. Roso faced a tough opponent in Ozturk and lost 7-5 and 6-4, but still put up a good fight. 

On the second day of the tournament, the Tigers won five matches, including singles victories against Syracuse and St. Joseph.  Bashir and Octa won an 8-4 doubles match for the No. 2 spot against Pennsylvania’s Liza Tkachenko and Lara Stojanovski during the morning matches. Canete won a singles match against Syracuse’s Miyuka Kimoto, who is ranked No. 24 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) preseason rankings.

Bashir and Octa also seized singles victories against St. Joseph in the afternoon with Bashir defeating Victoria Tracey in the No. 3 slot, 6-2 and 6-3. Octa took her match to three sets and seized a hard-fought singles match against Gisele Tang in the No. 4 spot, 4-6, 6-1 and 10-7. Octa additionally  grabbed a singles win over Stojanovski with 6-4, 2-6 and 6-4. 

In the final day of the invitational, Missouri opened with doubles matches against Syracuse. Missouri ended the weekend with a singles play facing off against Delaware. The Tigers claimed one final victory, totaling five doubles and seven singles wins.

Canete and Roso battled in a doubles match against the Syracuse pair, Kimoto and Anastasia Sysoeva, in the No. 1 slot, falling to Syracuse , 8-6.  Bashir and Octa faced off against Syracuse’s Nelly Knezkova and Constance Levivier, dropping to Syracuse with 8-5.

To end the tournament, Bashir secured a singles victory against Delaware in the No. 3 slot, defeating Nisan Can in straight sets, 7-5 and 6-3. Canete also faced Delaware in singles on the No. 1 court, but fell to Maryia Hrynashka in a three-set match, 2-6, 6-4 and 6-4. 

The Tigers will take nearly a month break and continue their fall season at the ITA Regional Championships in Memphis, Tennessee, on Oct. 9-14. 

Edited by Michael Stamps | mstamps@themaneater.com

Copyedited by Hannah Taylor | htaylor@themaneater.com

Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com