3 advance to third round in ITA's

Hoping to use the event as an opportunity to gain experience against previously unseen competition, the women’s tennis team competed this weekend in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional Tournament.

Three players advanced as far as the round of 16 in singles play. Junior Myriam Sopel, freshman Leslie Hureau and sophomore Evgeniya Vertesheva each reached the third round before losing to highly-ranked competition from schools they had not played against before.

Sopel upset the 16th seed, Jo-Ann Van Aerde from Louisville, in the first round, 4-6, 7-6, 6-0, then defeated Zsofia Zubor of the powerhouse Tennessee program in the second round 6-2, 6-4.

She finally fell in the third round to the sixth-seeded Chelsea Preeg of Vanderbilt.

“Our three players in the final 16 played very well today,” IU coach Lin Loring said. “Myriam’s win over Tennessee and her three-set loss to Vanderbilt might have been the best tennis she has played in her career. “

Vertesheva beat Tiffany Treece of Xavier and Tennessee’s Rosala Alda before falling to the tournament’s fifth seed, Megan Broderick of Kentucky.

“Geniya had a great win over Tennessee in the morning against a player we have never beaten before,” Loring said.

Hureau was the only seeded Hoosier in the singles draw, at the 10th spot.

She won against Martha Peresetski of Wright State 6-4, 6-1 and Kelly Holtzhausen from East Tennessee State 6-0, 6-2 in the first two rounds. She lost a matchup with the tournament’s second overall seed, Vanderbilt’s Jackie Wu, in the third.

“Leslie played near perfect tennis in her morning match and actually played very well against the No. 2 seed in the afternoon, although the score does not indicate that,” Loring said.  

The team’s next competition is the Western Michigan Invitational on Nov. 6 through 8 in Kalamazoo, Mich..