MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Six singles players advanced to the third round of the championship draw as the IUP women's tennis team had a fantastic start to its 2021 fall season on the first day of the ITA Atlantic Region Championships on Saturday.
In addition to the singles success, all three IUP doubles pairings in the championship bracket advanced to the quarterfinal round during first day play.
Advancing Hawks included second seed Joanna Stralka, third seed Natasha Munday, and sixth seed Karolin Kirchtag. Other top seeds advancing were Katy Graydon, Idoia Huerta, and Lydia Vlachou. On the doubles side, top-8 seeded teams of Huerta/Vlachou, Munday/Stralka, and Kirchtag/Graydon all advanced to the quarterfinals.
In the B draw, Laura Dunarova and Abby Jones each found success in both singles and doubles action.
The Hawks got off to a blazing start going 7-0 in doubles play. In the A draw Huerta and Vlachou capitalized on their first-round bye to go on and defeat Mercyhurst's pairing of Jahr and Ostojic 8-2. Munday and Stralka also stormed ahead after their first-round bye defeating West Liberty's Arnal and Cliffe 8-6.
Kirchtag and Graydon cruised through their first-round match against Pastor and Matos of Fairmont State 8-3 and continued their momentum into the second round beating De Almeida and Zottele of Edinboro 8-1.
The Hawks were just as successful in the B draw with the pairing of Dunarova and Jones. After receiving a first-round bye the duo defeated Edinboro's Toth and Riecken 8-3.
In the singles A draw Kirchtag, Munday, Vlachou, Huerta and Stralka all received byes taking them through to the second round where Graydon joined them after beating Lif from Charleston 6-4 6-3.
The domination for the Hawks continued with a clean sweep in the second round. Kirchtag defeated Courdi from Bluefield State 6-1, 6-2 shortly followed by Munda'ys victory over Pastor of Fairmont State 6-3, 6-2. Graydon followed the success of her teammates defeating De Almeida of Endiboro 6-0, 6-2 and Vlachou breezed through her match against Matos from Fairmont State 6-4, 6-1. Huerta had a convincing 6-1, 6-2 win over Sorton of Fairmont State and Stralka followed in her footsteps beating Pintar from Frostburg State 6-2, 6-1.
Dunarova didn't take any prisoners after her first-round bye in the B draw defeating Pena from West Liberty 6-0, 6-0. Jones narrowly missed out in the second round to Lancaster of Slippery Rock but bounced right back in the back draw comfortably defeating Toothman of Frostburg State 6-0, 6-0.
Up next
The action will continue tomorrow with all of IUP doubles teams into the quarterfinals of their respective draws which will be followed shortly after with the third round of singles play.
Follow
For up-to-date information, visit IUPAthletics.com and follow IUP women's tennis on Twitter @IUPCrimsonHawk and @IUPtennis.
