UT MARTIN TENNIS HOLDS ITS OWN AGAINST TOUGH COMPETITION AT ITA OHIO VALLEY REGIONALS

Thursday, October 17

Murfreesboro, Tenn.

UT Martin

ITA Ohio Valley Regionals

Photo by: Kevin Weaks/Union City Messenger

UT MARTIN TENNIS HOLDS ITS OWN AGAINST TOUGH COMPETITION AT ITA OHIO VALLEY REGIONALS

10/20/2019 8:23:00 PM | Tennis

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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin tennis squad collected eight victories against a stacked field that included some of the top collegiate players in the country at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Ohio Valley Regionals.

The Skyhawks were one of 23 teams to take part in the annual fall event, competing alongside the likes of Austin Peay, Belmont, Butler, Chattanooga, Cincinnati, ETSU, Indiana, IUPUI, Kentucky, Lipscomb, Louisville, Memphis, Miami (Ohio), host Middle Tennessee, Northern Kentucky, Purdue, Southeast Missouri, Tennessee, Tennessee State, Wright State, Xavier and Vanderbilt.

Overall, six different UT Martin representatives earned victories as the Skyhawks managed six singles wins and two doubles victories.

In the main doubles draw, the UT Martin team of Amelia Campbell and Daphne Pratt advanced to the Round of 16 after a pair of big wins. Their run started with an 8-2 victory over IUPUI's Gabrielle Ochalik/Krystal Grubb before putting away Memphis' Laura Bente/Alisha Reayer by an 8-7 (2) score. The pair nearly advanced another level but wound up barely falling by an 8-6 margin to Austin Peay's Fabienne Schmidt/Danielle Morris.

All of the Skyhawks' singles victories came in the B Flight. Freshman Aziza Aubin continued the impressive start to her career with two notable wins. The Sussex, England native dispatched Middle Tennessee's Zoe Klapman (6-3, 6-7, 6-2) in the opening round before defeating Cincinnati's Amanda Huser (6-1, 6-3). In the Round of 16, she battled before narrowly falling 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to No. 1 seed Vivian Lai from Southeast Missouri.

Also earning a pair of singles wins was newcomer Sina Albersmeier. She earned a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Belmont's Terra Shelden in the first round before a heartbreaking tiebreaker loss to Cincinnati's Claire Koscielski (4-6, 6-1, 6-1). In the consolation round, the sophomore from Moers, Germany bounced back strong to upend Elizabeth Ronin from Northern Kentucky (6-2, 3-6, 10-5).

Jule Streif pieced together quite a weekend as well, starting with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Butler's Roxanne Mackenzie in the first round. Although she would fall to Xavier's Anna Letto in the next round, Streif came close to scoring a huge victory in the consolation round before dropping a decision to Kentucky's Brianna Tulloch by the slimmest of margins (7-6, 7-5).

Additionally, Mizuki Sakurai came away with a win in the consolation round. After pushing Cincinnati's Anna Philp to the brink in the first round, she tallied a 6-4, 6-1 victory against IUPUI's Diya Matta.

Campbell and Pratt also represented UT Martin in the main singles draw but ran into some tough competition in the likes of Chattanooga, Indiana and Cincinnati. Jillian Niedzialowski also participated in the B Flight singles but narrowly fell to opponents from Northern Kentucky and Belmont.

The Skyhawk teams of Niedzialowski/Streif and Aubin/Sakurai also competed in the B Flight doubles bracket but were defeated by duos from Belmont and Memphis, respectively.

"We had some impressive wins over big schools," UT Martin head coach Dennis Taylor said. "Daphne and Amelia's wins over Memphis in doubles was huge and gave us a glimpse of what these two may do in the future. Our best played match was Jule's performance against Kentucky – that result could have gone either way. It was the best tennis she has played since coming to UT Martin and was probably the highest level of tennis played by a Skyhawk in several years. Aziza and Sina also continued to impress everyone with two big wins each."

UT Martin will look to avoid spotty forecasted weather next weekend when it hosts the Skyhawk Fall Invite. The event is scheduled to take place on Friday, Oct. 25 and Saturday, Oct. 26.