Saturday, Cowgirls tennis closed out a successful weekend at the ITA Mountain Regional Tournament in Albuquerque, N.M.
“Overall, we had a very successful day one to the tournament,” Cowgirls head coach Dean Clower told gowyo.com.
Wednesday the Cowgirls opened their tourney outing in doubles action. Seniors, Christa Gecheva and Jessica Parizher, sophomore Dorottya Jonas and redshirt freshman Magdalena Stencel advanced to the second round of finals.
Gecheva and Parizher took their first victory over Air Force’s Lily Forlini and Natasha Rizvi 8-5.
“It was great to see Jessica (Parizher) back on the court and bringing intensity to the team,” said coach Clower.
Jonas and Stencel advanced to the second round of doubles off a bye.
Freshman Cecilia Mercier and senior Silviya Zhelyazkova suffered an 8-2 loss to Idaho’s Lucia Badillos and Emmie Marx.
In singles play, Jonas, Gecheva and junior Nastya Tokareva all earned slots in Thursday’s second rounds. Mercier, Stencel and Zhelyazkova all fell to their competitors in the first round.
Gecheva took her victory in a set of three, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, over Denver’s Garcia Mboko. Jonas took a bye first round and Tokareva took Montana State’s Jessica Brycki 6-1, 6-2.
In day two, Jonas took an additional two games for Wyoming against Duda Santos of UTEP 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 and over Savannah Ware of BYU 7-6, 6-1.
“Dorottya (Jonas) continues to improve in all aspects of the game,” coach Clower said. “She deserves to be in the round of 16 and will go further into the week if she her play continues the way it is.”
Tokareva had a victory in round two of singles against Meredith Hopsin of New Mexico 7-5, 6-1, but took a loss in round three 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Gecheva fell 6-2, 6-2, to BYU’s Morgan Anderson-Littlewood in the final matches of the second round.
In doubles, Gecheva and Parizher took a close game over Boise State’s Megan LaLone and Teal Vosburgh 8-7. They advanced into doubles round three.
“Jessica and Christa (Gecheva) are playing at a high level of doubles and are a pleasure to coach and watch. It has been a good week so far working on and improving a lot of things,” said coach Clower.
Jonas and Stencel had a less successful outing in day two of doubles against Utah State’s Nini Guensler and Lexi Turley, who beat the Cowgirl duo 8-5.
Going into day three of tournament action, Jonas continued her hot streak and advanced into the singles quarterfinals.
Jonas faced Colorado’s Alexandra Aiello in the first round of Friday’s single’s play. After losing the first set 6-3, Jonas bounced back winning the next two sets 7-6 (6) and 7-6 (3).
“Dorottya grinded through another round in the main draw and showed a lot of toughness. It’s always great as a coach to see the fast improvement as a team,” said coach Clower.
The final doubles team for Wyoming, Gecheva and Parizher, were taken by Colorado’s Julyette Steur and Kyra Wojo 8-6 to end their main draw tournament run. In the final day of tournament play, Jonas face the top-seeded Tereza Bekerova of Utah in the quarterfinals. Bekerova beat Jonas in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.
“Dorottya is one of the toughest competitors I have been around,” coach Clower said after Saturday’s matches. “It’s been a pleasure watching her grow and the results of this tournament are a testament to her work ethic. This has been a great start to her year.”
In the back draw, Cowgirl’s Mercier, Gecheva and Tokareva picked up extra matches. All three came away with a win for Wyoming. Mercier took Cedillo in a set of three 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (12-10). Gecheva took a victory in straight sets of 6-3, 6-2 over Northern Colorado’s Hilary Walters-West and Tokareva followed suit with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Hailey Rochin.
“We had another positive day at the tournament. We won a few of our extra matches and more importantly are beginning to understand what UW tennis is,” Coach Clower said.
Closing out the fall season, the Cowgirls will compete in Dallas, Texas at the SMU Invitational on Nov. 7.
