SALINA, Kan. - After winning the ITA Central-West Regionals women's singles title last year, No. 1 seed
Hanna Lindeboom made her third straight regionals finals appearance and finished as runner-up for the second time and qualified for the ITA Cup for the third time, competing in the tournament hosted by Kansas Wesleyan University from Friday to Sunday at Salina Tennis Alliance Tennis Center.
Singles Competition
As the reigning ITA Central-West Regionals singles champion, top-seeded Lindeboom had a target on her back, and she excelled up to the final, dropping just one set in 11 sets of action.
Cruising to straight set sweeps in her first two matches, Lindeboom beat Avila University's Tia Wilsher 6-1, 6-0 in the Round of 64 and Texas Wesleyan University's Carla Arce 6-2, 6-2 in the Round of 32. Saturday's matchups provided more of a challenge for Lindeboom, beating McPherson College's Alexa Garcia 4-6, 7-6 (won the tiebreaker 7-5), 10-3 in the Round of 16 and No. 9 seed Zeynep Sila Ege of TWU 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
Lindeboom easily advanced past her semifinal opponent, winning 6-4, 6-2 over No. 5 seed Silva Avakian of Friends University. But Lindeboom couldn't continue her terrific stretch, upset 6-4, 6-3 by No. 3 seed Line Jensen of Morningside College in Sunday's final.
No. 13 seed Mireira Simon Sanchez recorded Woods' second-best singles finish out of its six players, making it to the Round of 16.
On Friday, Simon Sanchez won 6-2, 6-3 over Bethany College's Kyla Metro in the Round of 64 and 6-0, 6-4 over Morningside's Lidia Suarez in the Round of 32. Coming up against formidable No. 4 seed Daniela Herrera of Bethel College in the Round of 16, Simon Sanchez's run ended with a 6-3, 6-4 defeat.
The Owls'
Samya Sikand and
Sophia Hausner saw their regionals outings close in the Round of 32. Sikand beat Bethel's Patty Huerta 7-6 (took the tiebreaker 8-6), 6-1 in the Round of 64 before losing 6-0, 6-0 to No. 2 seed Maria Purizaca Sota of Doane University. Hausner won 6-3, 6-1 over Bethel's Jenna Mahoney in the Round of 64, and she gave it her all in a 0-6, 6-2, 11-9 Round of 32 defeat to No. 14 seed Chakira Derman of Nebraska Concordia University.
William Woods' No. 16 seed
Kristina Dimitrijevic and unseeded
Zara Littlejohn dropped their Round of 64 contests. Dimitrejevic fell 6-4, 2-6, 10-4 to Ottawa University's Valeria Rodriguez, and Littlejohn lost 6-1, 6-3 to No. 12 seed Liz Marie Calderon of Doane.
Doubles Competition
No. 3 seed Lindeboom and
Charlotte Ready led the Owls in doubles play, going to the semifinals.
Winning both matches 8-2, Lindeboom and Ready beat Ottawa's Rodriguez and Alexandra Persson 8-2 in the Round of 32 and Kansas Wesleyan's Hayden Bellamy and Corina Salas 8-2 in the Round of 16 on Friday. After allowing just two points in their first two games, Lindeboom and Ready won by two (8-6) over Texas Wesleyan's Paulina Hudson and
Kaja Brunzlow in the quarterfinals.
Unable to get past the semifinals, Lindeboom and Ready lost 8-2 to the eventual runner-up, No. 2 seed Camila Sanchez and Taimi Nashiku of McPherson.
Rounding out WWU's doubles team performances, the Owls' duos of Littlejohn and Simon Sanchez and Hausner and Dimitrijevic were two of the final 16 remaining teams. Littlejohn and Simon Sanchez defeated Bethel's Grace Dawes and Huerta 8-3 in the Round of 32, and then they were the first of two Owls pairs to fall to No. 2 seed Sanchez and Nashiku, losing 8-2 in the Round of 64. Hausner and Dimitrijevic won 8-6 over Hastings College's Victoria Harris and Josline Carter before losing by the same scoreline to Friends' Avakian and Carlotta Klee in the Round of 64.
Lindeboom will travel to Rome, Ga. for the ITA Cup singles competition, taking on the NAIA's best from Oct. 10-13 at Rome Tennis Center.
In its first official match as a team this season, No. 18 Wililam Woods faces NCAA Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis at 11 a.m. next Sunday at UMSL Tennis Courts in St. Louis.
