Lady Vols Conclude Fall Opener at Wolfpack Invitational

CARY, N.C. – Tennessee Lady Volunteer tennis capped its opening tournament of the fall on Sunday, finishing off the four-day event that saw two newcomers make their Tennessee debuts and pick up victories.

The four-day event kicked off with doubles play Thursday afternoon that paired junior college transfer Lauren Anzalotta with freshman Catherine Aulia. The duo rolled, cruising past Duke’s Brianna Shvets/Katie Codd, 6-1, in both partners’ UT debuts.

“Cat and Lauren did a nice job in their opening tournament as Lady Vols,” associate head coach Jarryd Chaplin said. “We each have a clearer idea and understanding of things that need to be addressed on the practice court, and there is plenty of areas we can progress.”

The doubles success continued on Sunday morning, prior to the start of the finals singles matches. Aulia/Anzalotta recorded another victory, taking down Roxana Manu/Jocelyn Massey of Kansas, 6-4. The second double duo, Rebeka Mertena/Elza Tomase, battled to a 7-4 tiebreaker winner against Julia Adams/Sara Ziodato from Virginia to take the match, 7-6.

In singles, both newcomers were also able to secure victories in the event. Aulia grabbed a pair of wins on Saturday, besting Arizona State’s Rachel Hanford, 7-6(2), 6-3 before going on to down fellow SEC player Ana Cruz of South Carolina, 6-2, 6-1. Anzalotta, meanwhile, grabbed her first Division I singles victory over Tatyana Nikolenko (Miami) on Saturday, 6-2, 6-1, and capped her tournament with a win over Katie Codd of Duke in a supertiebreaker battle, 6-7(4), 6-1, 1-0 (10-6).

“Overall, a productive weekend,” Chaplin continued. “There were some encouraging moments from our players as the tournament progressed. Thank you to NC State for hosting yet another quality event.”

With the first event in the books, the busy fall schedule gets underway as another group of Lady Vols travel to Austin, Texas for the Austin ITF 25K, slated to begin Monday at the Texas Tennis Center.

Full Tournament Results

Doubles

Thursday, Sept. 22

Catherine Aulia/Lauren Anzalotta (TENN) def. Katie Codd/Brianna Shvets (DUKE), 6-1

Kari Miller/Jaedan Brown (MICH) def. Rebeka Mertena/Elza Tomase (TENN), 6-3

Snow Han/Sloane Morra (USC) def. Catherine Aulia/Lauren Anzalotta (TENN), 6-2

Marie Mattel/Nandini Sharma (UCF) def. Rebeka Mertena/Elza Tomase (TENN), 6-3

Sunday, Sept. 25

Catherine Aulia/Lauren Anzalotta (TENN) def. Roxana Manu/Jocelyn Massey (KU), 6-4

Rebeka Mertena/Elza Tomase (TENN) def. Julia…