Michigan State University Athletics
Michigan State University
ITA Midwest Regional Championships
Spartans Set for ITA Midwest Regionals
10/17/2018 5:06:00 PM | Women's Tennis
EAST LANSING, Mich. – The Michigan State women's tennis team takes to the road this week to compete at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships. The tournament will run from Thursday, Oct. 18 to Tuesday, Oct. 23 in Ann Arbor, Mich. at the Varsity Tennis Center.
"It's another test for us against some top-notch competition to see where we're at," MSU head coach Kim Bruno said. "We need to keep evaluating that throughout this entire fall schedule and keep looking at where we are, how we can get a little bit better and what that looks like. That's where we are as a team right now. Win or lose, that's what we've got to go out and do. We have a talented bunch, but they've got to figure it out in match time"
The qualifying round will begin on Thursday, Oct. 18, with the main draw doubles following on Friday, Oct. 19 and main draw singles on Saturday, Oct. 20. The tournament will conclude on Tuesday, Oct. 23 with the singles main draw championship.
The tournament will feature conference opponents in Michigan, Illinois, Northwestern, Ohio State, Michigan and Wisconsin, in addition to non-conference spring opponents in Bowling Green, Notre Dame, Marquette and DePaul.
Eight Spartans will represent MSU at the ITA Midwest Regionals, including seniors Davina Nguyen and Emily Metcalf, sophomore Caroline Szabo and freshmen Nicole Stephens in the qualifying round. Sophomores Samantha Memije and Mary Lewis and freshmen Maja and Lauren Lemonds will start the tournament in the main draw.
Main draw doubles will begin on Friday, Oct. 19 with the pairings of Pietrowicz/Metcalf, Nguyen/Lewis, Memije/Stephens and Lemonds/Szabo.
In qualifying singles, Stephens will face Jasmine Apawti of Detroit Mercy and Nguyen will take on Srishti Slaria of Eastern Illinois University. Metcalf will take on Detroit's Ksenia Providohkina and Szabo will face Northwestern's Hannah McColgan.
"There's a lot of tennis ahead of us and there's a lot of practices ahead of us. For those who aren't getting the results they want, they can turn that around," Bruno said. "I've also seen little increments of improvement throughout this course of the semester and I think we're on the right track so let's see what this Regionals brings. We're looking forward to competing in it. It's top-notch players and teams and we need to be a part of that."
A trip to the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships is on the line, as the winners of each main draw (singles and doubles) will receive automatic berths into the tournament.
Results and updated brackets will be posted on msuspartans.com.
Players Mentioned
