Utah State women's tennis is set to compete in the ITA Regionals in singles and doubles from Wednesday through Sunday in Salt Lake City.
Eight Aggies will travel to the event in a tournament that includes netters from 18 other schools in the ITA Mountain region. Other schools competing include Mountain West opponents Air Force, Boise State, Nevada, UNLV and Wyoming, as well as in-state rivals BYU, Southern Utah, Utah and Weber State.
Six netters ranked in the ITA singles preseason will be competing in the ITA Regionals in Idaho's No. 71 Marianna Petrei, UNLV's No. 83 Aiwen Zhu, Denver's No. 87 Bianca Mok, Nevada's No. 97 Claudia Herraro, Utah's No. 98 Alexia Petrovic and Air Force's No. 106 TJ Fumagalli. In doubles, three pairs are ranked in Wyoming's Elisa Koonik and Tessa van der Ploeg who are tied for No. 48, No. 52 Fumagalli and Elizabeth Barnickel of Air Force and Northern Arizona's No. 57 Chiara Tomasetti and Hanneke Lodewijks.
USU enters the tournament after a two-week break, last competing in the Idaho State Invitational and the ITA Gold Event: Milwaukee Tennis Classic. In Milwaukee, sophomore Lucy Octave and freshman Sasha Pisareva went 1-1 in doubles, while Octave went 0-1 in singles and Pisareva was 1-1. In Pocatello, senior Maggie O'Meara and sophomore Sophia Haleas won the doubles bracket with a 4-0 finish. Haleas also placed second in the black singles draw with a 2-1 finish, while O’Meara finished third with a 3-1 record. Senior Sabrina Demerath finished first in the orange draw’s consolation bracket with a 3-1 singles record. Demerath and sophomore Rhoda Tanui finished 1-1 in doubles, and Tanui went 1-1 in singles. Junior Jenna Kane was a perfect 3-0 in singles and finished third in the consolation doubles bracket with freshman Alexandra Taylor, finishing with a 2-2 record.
Ashley Springer is a student at Utah State University studying journalism and communication. Springer is an intern with the USU athletic department's media relations.