BERKELEY, Calif. (Oct. 12, 2024) – Junior Eva Alvarez Sande advanced to the third round of both the singles and doubles draws during Saturday’s play at the 2024 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Northwest Region Championship at the Hellman Tennis Complex.
Alvarez Sande, the No. 9 seed, dropped only seven games in her two matches Saturday, opening with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Carina Syrtveit of Washington. She was even better in her second-round match, winning 6-0, 6-0 against Santa Clara’s Velizara Fileva, to reach Sunday’s third round.
Redshirt-junior Maxine Murphy and senior Hania Abouelsaad also recorded first-round wins, with Murphy defeating Washington’s Catherine Gagnon, 6-2, 7-5, while Abouelsaad needed three sets to defeat San Jose State’s Cheuk Ying Shek, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4. In Murphy’s second-round match, she battled to a third set before falling to Washington’s Reece Carter, the No. 4-seed, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Stanford’s Valeria Glozman, the No. 6-seed, ended Abouelsaad’s main draw run with a 6-0, 6-4 win in the second round.
Other first-round matches saw Stanford’s Valencia Xu, seeded No. 7, defeat WSU’s Elyse Tse, 6-2, 7-5, while Cal’s Sophie Hernandez posted a 6-1, 6-3 win over Cougar freshman Chisato Kanemaki. Freshman Martina Puvill dropped a 7-5, 6-1 match to Saint Mary’s Juliette Darier.
Freshman Madhu Satishbabu was down a break in her consolation round match against Portland’s Meagan Person when Pearson was forced to retire due to injury. Sophomore Martina Markov lost a heartbreaker to Seattle’s Daria Nazarenko, 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9).
In doubles action, three Cougar teams advanced to the third round as Murphy and Alvarez Sande, seeded No. 7, cruised past San Jose State’s Duru Durgun and Emma Fantusis, 8-3. Tse and Kanemaki, seeded No. 9, defeated UC Davis’ Solia Valentine and Isabella Bringas, 8-5, while Abouelsaad and Markov upset the No. 8-seeded duo of Yinglak Jittakoat and Matilde Magrini of Fresno State, 8-4.
Play continues Sunday at the ITA NW Championships, with main draw singles and doubles action, as well as consolation play.
2024 WASHINGTON STATE TENNIS
ITA NORTHWEST REGION CHAMPIONSHIPS
Oct. 12, 2024
Hellman Tennis Complex
Berkeley, Calif.
Main Draw Singles – First Round
Maxine Murphy (WSU) def. Catherine Gagnon (UW) 6-2, 7-5
Hania Abouelsaad (WSU) def. Cheuk Ying Shek (SJSU) 2-6,…
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