Women’s Tennis’ Dorner and Uchijima Make Trip to NCAA Doubles Championship – Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Juniors Olivia Dorner and Maiko Uchijima begin play at the NCAA Doubles Championship against Colorado’s Anya Nelson and Ema Bubalo on Wednesday, Nov. 20. The tournament will be held at Hurd Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. All NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships matches will be broadcast on ESPN+.  

Dorner and Uchijima, ranked as the No. 49 doubles pair by ITA, earned a spot at the tournament by winning the ITA Northeast Regional doubles final on Oct. 15. They became the program’s first NCAA qualifier and regional winner since 2012. On the season, the duo boasts a 10-1 record in doubles play. 

This will be Uchijima’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Doubles Championship after making it twice at Temple.

Milestones on the Road to the Big Dance 

UNC Kitty Harrison Invitational – Sept. 13-15 

• Won all three matches at the first weekend tournament of the fall season 

• Defeated Duke’s No. 61 Shavit Kimchi and Elizabeth Coleman (6-3) 

• Tallied victories over Charlotte’s Sara Suchankova and Shona Nakano and Purdue’s Carmen Gallardo and Tara Milic (6-1) 

• Uchijima was named Big Ten Player of the Week for her performance at the competition (Sept. 18) 

ITA All-Americans – Sept. 24 

• Picked up second ranked victory over Arkansas’ No. 51 Grace O’Donnell and Anet Koskel (6-1, 7-5)  

ITA Northeast Regional – Oct. 10-15 

• Went a perfect 6-0 to win the doubles final and qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship 

• Beat Penn’s Eileen Wang and Sabine Rutlauka (1-6, 6-4, 10-7) to take home the hardware 

• Other victories came against Seton Hall’s Rachel Benoualid and Isabelle May (8-3), Fordham’s Lilianna Chitambar and Lorraine Bergmann (8-4), Princeton’s Pearlie Zhang and Isabella Chhiv (8-1) and Penn’s Gavriella Smith and Saige Roshkoff (8-0) and Esha Velaga and Lara Stojanovski (6-2, 6-3) 

• Dorner was named Big Ten Co-Player of the Week for her play at the event (Oct. 16). In addition to the doubles title, she reached the Round of 16 in singles 

Looking Across the Net 

• Colorado’s Nelson and Bubalo enter the NCAA Doubles Championships with a 9-0 record on the fall season and 20-6 for their careers together 

• The pair won the ITA Mountain Regional doubles championship against Denver’s Andrea Beltran and Marley Lambert (3-6, 7-6, 10-8) to qualify for the NCAA Doubles Championship 

• Reached as high as No. 70 in the ITA doubles rankings last…