Women's and men's tennis compete at ITAs

Albertville, Ala. - The Emory Oxford women's tennis team traveled to play in the annual Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Championships from Sept. 27-29. This year's tournament was held at Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheatre and Yarbrough Tennis Center.

First-years Samantha Goldberg and Arba Zhao won the Flight B draw in women's doubles. They defeated Maasiai Sales and Samiya Perry from NJCAA Division I Marion Military Institute by a score of 7-5, 6-2.

In Flight A doubles, sophomores Lily Liu and Olha Los made it to the finals before being defeated by Noelle D'Angelillo and Jaedyn Martin from Wallace State Community College 7-5, 6-3. The duo of sophomore Marie Chastel and first-year Jennifer He fought hard in the quarterfinals of Flight A, but were narrowly defeated 9-8 (11-9). Freshmen Chloe Macaluso and Ellen Liu also made it to the quarterfinals before they lost by a close 8-6.

Three women made it to the quarterfinals in Flight A before being defeated. Lily Liu played a close game (4-6, 3-6) with her opponent, Maeva Chambon from University of South Carolina, Sumter. Macaluso (1-6, 1-6) and Chastel (1-6, 2-6) also competed in the flight. Goldberg made it to the semifinals in Flight B, while Zhao (1-6, 3-6) made it to the quarterfinals.

In the consolation draw for Flight A, Los made it to the finals before being defeated 1-8 by Julianne Legg of Coastal Alabama Community College South.

A week earlier, the men's team competed in their ITA Championships at Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheatre. In the Flight B consolation draw for doubles, first-years Jerry He and Neeraj Madamalla made it to the semifinals before being defeated 8-0. The duo of first-year Colin Kinsey and sophomore Cameron Eltoft also made it to the semifinals before losing a close 8-5 match. Sophomore Elliot Li and first-year Daniel Naylor made it to the Flight A consolation quarterfinals before withdrawing due to injury. In singles, He, Eltoft and Kinsey all made it to the Flight B consolation quarterfinals. Sophomore Daniel Bernard also had a strong opening win in the first round of Flight A, and Kinsey won his first-round match in Flight B.

"All wins were great achievements in themselves as the tournament was full of very strong NJCAA D1 men's teams this year," said Men's and Women's Head Tennis Coach Jonathan Bennett.

Next up for the men's and women's tennis teams is a home match against Piedmont University on Sunday, Oct. 6 at 2 p.m.