BERKELEY, Calif. – The Gonzaga women's tennis team continued competition today at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, with two doubles pairings advancing to the Round of 16.
Norhan Hesham/Brooke Bittner handled Oregon 8-2, then Emily Robertson/Ella Nielsen survived a nailbiter — beating Washington 8-7. In a consolation doubles match, Rose Hayes/Safien Boulonois could not prevail in their tiebreaker.
After qualifying for the main singles bracket with victories yesterday, Rose Hayes, Brooke Bittner, and Safien Boulonois dropped matches on Saturday. Boulonois and Bittner both fell in close contests, with the latter extending to three sets.
Norhan Hesham and Emily Robertson began singles play in the main bracket today, both going the distance in separate bouts. Hesham forced a final frame against Portland but fell in the match tiebreaker. Robertson dominated her opening round victory over PSU, then won the first set of the next match, however, her UW opponent rallied to take the following two frames.
In a consolation singles bout, Ella Nielsen won the first set but dropped the next one (and the match) on a tiebreaker.
Up next: Competition continues through Oct. 15 at the ITA Northwest Regional Championships, hosted by the University of California at the Hellman Tennis Complex and Channing Tennis Courts in Berkeley, CA. This is one of 13 regional competitions ITA will hold around the U.S. during October, with singles finalists and doubles champions from each region qualifying for next month's NCAA Singles Championship and NCAA Doubles Championship in Waco, Texas.
On Sunday, Hesham/Bittner and Robertson/Nielsen will play in the doubles Round of 16.
Results
Doubles:
Singles:
- R64 (Main): Emily Robertson def. Elizabeth Strongina (PSU) 6-3, 6-1
- R32 (Main): Alexia Jacobs (UW) def. Emily Robertson 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3)
- R64 (Main): Alaia Rubio Perez (Portland) def. Norhan Hesham 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (5)
- R64 (Main): Connie Ma (Stanford) def. Rose Hayes 6-0, 6-1
- R64 (Main): Velizara Fileva (Santa Clara) def. Brooke Bittner 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-2
- R64 (Main): Jessica Alsola (Berkeley) def. Safien Boulonois 7-6 (4), 7-5
- (Consolation): Tilde Jagare (Oregon) def. Ella Nielsen 4-6, 6-2 (2)
