ETSU women’s tennis competed at the Elon Invitational in Elon, North Carolina on Friday, Sept. 16 to Sunday, Sept. 18.
For their opener of the fall season, the team finished the three-day weekend with 20 wins.
“It’s great to start off on the right foot, getting a lot of victories and getting some matches in and building that confidence toward the spring,” said head coach Ricardo Rojas. “I think that the fall is about getting matches and developing our team. I think that’s a big step in the right direction.”
Sophomore Daniela Rivera (Maturin, Venezuela) and senior Maria Fernanda Carvajal (Queretaro, Mexico) both won three singles games in a row, earning them spots in their bracket championships.
Carvajal won her singles bracket after coming back from a loss in the first set (4-6) against Charlotte Cartledge from Virginia Tech to win the second two sets (6-1, 6-1).
“We played so good; I think we are ready physically and mentally,” said Carvajal.
Rivera also won the final for the Powell bracket (6-2, 6-1) against Lucia Aranda from UNC Charlotte.
Sophomore Ralitsa Alexandrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) made it to the final round of the Phoenix bracket but lost (0-6, 4-6) to Julie Ball from Elon University.
For doubles in the gold bracket, graduate student Emilia Alfaro (Azul, Argentina) and Alexandrova (Sofia, Bulgaria) battled to the finals, but lost 4-8 against Kaavya Sawhney and Lucia Aranda from UNC Charlotte.
Rivera and graduate student Yunuen Elizarraras (Cuernavaca, Mexico) won the Powell doubles bracket with a final score of (8-5) against Iris Berman and Alyssa Margolin from Emory University.
“We had some really good individual performances. I was excited to see our newcomers play and see how they fit in. Hopefully, we can keep building on from this last weekend,” said Coach Rojas.
The team will be traveling to the 2022 Fall Ranked Spotlight tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina from Thursday, Sept. 22 to Sunday, Sept. 25 and the 49ers Invite in Charlotte, North Carolina from Friday, Sept. 23 to Sunday, Sept. 25.
