CHENEY, Wash. – Idaho women's tennis advanced two teams to the semifinals while posting a 19-10 overall record over the weekend to close out play at the Eagle Invite, hosted by Eastern Washington.
Rachelle Starreveld and
Ida Johansson teamed up to make an appearance in the semifinals while
Naomi Schraeder and
Selin Sepken joined the pair in the final four four, highlighting a successful weekend in Cheney.
Idaho competed in a mini-dual competition that featured student-athletes from Eastern Washington, Montana and Seattle U for a three-day tournament (Oct. 6-8). Players were paired with a teammate against another duo, playing one doubles match and two singles matches per round. The team that earned two wins advanced in the bracket.
Starreveld and Johansson started by defeating Montana's Ivayla Mitkova and Rosie Sterk, 2-1 in the opening round before earning a sweep over EWU's Jennifer Kida and Leandra Nizetic in the quarterfinals. The pair saw their run end against Seattle U's "A" team by a 2-1 result.
The opposite end of the bracket saw Schraeder and Sepken team up to earn a 3-0 result over Seattle U's "C" team of Lola Tavcar and Anastasia-Aleksandra Nikolova. The duo followed with a 2-1 win over Idaho teammates
Annabel Davis and
Lena Beckx to clinch a trip to the final four.
The two Vandals competed against EWU's Scout Mathews and Isabella Foshee for a trip to the finals on the line. Each team went back and forth in doubles play before the Eagles pair ultimately decided it with a 7-1 tiebreak victory to go up 1-0. Sepken started singles action with a commanding 6-3, 6-0 victory over Mathews to even the score at 1-1. Meanwhile, Schraeder took the first set, 6-3 before Foshee responded to win 6-3, 6-0 to clinch the victory. The duo from Eastern went on to win the championship over Seattle U.
Outside of tournament play, the Vandals played in additional singles matches where
Diana Khaydarshina,
Valentina Rodas, Schraeder and Sepken each earned straight-set victories to finish out play.
Idaho will take this week to prepare for the ITA Mountain Regional, which will be held Oct. 18-22 at the Eccles Tennis Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.
--
