Women’s tennis concludes busy week featuring two tournaments

The second week of competition for the women’s tennis team was divided into two tournaments: the Milwaukee Tennis Classic and the Cissie Leary Invitational at the University of Pennsylvania. Representing Princeton in Milwaukee were first-year Brianna Shvets, senior captain Nicole Kalhorn, junior Clare McKee, and sophomore Stephanie Schrage. Meanwhile, first-year Grace Joyce, sophomore Nathalie Rodilosso, senior captain Catalina Vives, and junior Tiffany Chen were sent to Penn.

Sixty-four singles players and 32 doubles teams were involved in the Milwaukee Tennis Classic, which commenced Thursday and concluded on Sunday. After Thursday’s competition, Schrage and McKee advanced to the second round of singles play, and Kalhorn and Shvets moved onto consolation play. To advance to the second round, Schrage beat VCU’s Paola Diaz-Delgado (7–5, 7–5), while McKee defeated Wisconsin’s Anna Makarova (6–2, 3–6, 7–6). The same day Kalhorn fell to Syracuse’s Miranda Ramirez (6–4, 6–2), and Shvets lost to Arkansas’s Jackie Carr (3–6, 6–0, 7–5).

Though McKee, Schrage, and Shvets lost their singles matches on Friday, Kalhorn defeated Milwaukee’s Mayya Perova to advance to Saturday’s singles consolation round. In Friday’s doubles play, the team of McKee and Schrage was eliminated in the first round of 32. Kalhorn and Shvets, however, defeated San Diego’s Nicole Anderson and Daniela Morales 8–5 to advance to the round of 16, in which they handily defeated Marquette’s Alexandrina Chinikova and Elisabeth Desmarais 8–0.

On Saturday, Kalhorn won against Utah’s Hannah Jones (6–2, 7–5) in the final singles consolation round. Kalhorn also teamed up with Shvets once again to face off against Syracuse’s Sofya Golubovskaya and Guzal Yuspova in the doubles quarterfinals, but the pair was eliminated after an 8–5 match that concluded the tournament for the Tigers.

While Kalhorn, Shvets, McKee, and Schrage represented Princeton in Milwaukee, Penn’s Cissie Leary Invitational was underway Friday through Sunday in Philadelphia. Columbia University, Cornell University, Drexel University, Penn State, and Temple University competed alongside Princeton in the tournament.

Friday, the first day of competition, featured both singles and doubles play. In singles competition, Joyce and Chen advanced to the quarterfinals after defeating their competitors in the first two rounds. Joyce defeated Columbia’s Christie Wan and Penn’s Jimena Rodriguez-Benito, while Chen defeated Columbia’s Sarah Hu after a bye in the round of 32. Though Rodilosso and Vives were eliminated in the round of 32, each triumphed in her consolation round. In doubles play, Joyce and Rodilosso paired up to defeat Cornell’s Sarah Campbell and Calli Sabaitis 6–2 and Columbia’s Hu and Kerr 7–6(4), but the team of Chen and Vives lost 6–4 to Temple’s Oyku Boz and Cecilia Castelli. The two victories advanced the first pair to the doubles semifinals on Saturday.

Both Joyce and Chen pulled through the singles quarterfinal round on Saturday with victories to advance to Sunday, while Rodilosso and Vives lost in their consolation matches. Rodilosso, however, had more success in doubles play, in which she and Joyce defeated Temple 6–1 and Cornell 7–5 in the semifinal and final matches to win the doubles draw.

To conclude the weekend for the Tigers, Joyce and Chen competed in the semifinal round of the singles bracket of the Cissie Leary Invitational. Joyce lost to Columbia’s Kerr 6–0, 6–3, and Chen followed with a 6–2, 6–0 loss against Penn’s Mimi Levine.

Next for the women’s tennis team is the ITA Women’s All-American Championships. Hosted in Los Angeles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, the tournament will be held between Sept. 29 and Oct 7.