Spartans Shine at ITA Midwest Regional
10/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's tennis team had a successful outing at the ITA Midwest Tennis Regional this weekend. MSU had five players qualify for the main draw, three of which won first round matches. Aslina Chua, Lexi Baylis and Davina Nguyen picked up big wins to advance to the Round of 32 while Erin Faulkner and Athena Trouillot also made the main draw.
Junior Aslina Chua won three singles matches in qualifying play, two of which went three sets, to grind her way into the main draw. She then went on to win her first round match, 7-5, 6-4 over Illinois State's Marcia Tese-Apisah. Facing the No. 3 seed in the Round of 32, Chua battle point for point with Northwestern's Madde Lipp, who pulled out a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory.
"What Aslina did this weekend shows what is to come for Michigan State tennis," said head coach Kim Bruno. "The whole team should be inspired by her performance and I know I definitely am. She went back and forth with the No. 3 seed when she was dog tired and completely didn't show it. She was Spartan tough."
Sophomore Davina Nguyen won her first round match in the main draw, 6-3, 6-2 over Depaul's Ana Vladutu before being knocked off by Notre Dame's Monica Robinson, 6-2, 6-1. Lexi Baylis took down DePaul's Marina Cozack in her main draw victory and fell to Ines Vlas from Illinois, 6-3, 6-3.
In doubles play on Friday, Baylis and Chua led the way, starting with an 8-5 win over the Boone/Hilton pair from Illinois. The duo then advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Akron's Maksimava/Knezvich, 8-4. On Saturday, they took on the Fahey/Najarian duo from Michigan for a chance to play in the quarterfinals, but Michigan came up with an 8-3 victory.
Freshman Sammie Memije also picked up two wins this weekend in the consolation singles bracket, defeating Stella Cliffe (EIU) 6-2, 6-1 on Friday and Lackova (YSU) 2-6, 6-1, 11-9 on Saturday.
Erin Faulkner teamed up with Nguyen and Athena Trouillot was paired with Memije in doubles play on Friday. Both groups went 1-1.
"Here in the middle of fall, in terms of our progress, we are where we need to be," said Bruno. "I think Western Michigan for our final tournament will be our last test to see exactly how we are going to end this season heading to spring."
The ITA Regional tournament schedule for the remainder of play is posted below. All times are subject to change. For updates, fans can download the updated pdf of the bracket in the sidebar of the women's tennis page on MSUSpartans.com. Brackets will be updated at the end of each day.
Sunday
Doubles Quarterfinals: 10 a.m.
Doubles Semifinal: 11 a.m.
Singles Quarterfinals (4 matches): 1 p.m.
Monday
Doubles Final: 9 a.m.
Singles Quarterfinals (4 matches): 10 a.m.
Singles Semifinals: 1 p.m.
Tuesday
Singles Final: 9 a.m.
Players Mentioned
