Women’s tennis struggles at tournament


Freshman Eryn Cayetano advanced to the semifinal round of the ITA Southwest Regionals alongside her partner sophomore Danielle Willson before falling to rival UCLA. (Ling Luo / Daily Trojan)

Coming off a strong performance at the Women of Troy Fall Invitational, the USC women’s tennis team looked to keep rolling as it headed to San Diego for the ITA Southwest Regionals this past weekend.

Among the Trojans’ competition in the four-day tournament were Hawaii, Pepperdine, San Diego, Arizona, San Diego State, UC Santa Barbara and UCLA.

The doubles portion of the tournament began in the Round of 64, in which freshman Eryn Cayetano and sophomore Danielle Willson had a bye. In the Round of 32, the two swiftly defeated Hawaii freshman Madison Kim and senior Petra Melounova 8-5. 

Following the win, the pair faced off against the senior-sophomore duo of UC Santa Barbara’s Dominika Paterova and Shakhnoza Khatamova. In an even more dominant fashion than their first win, Cayetano and Willson comfortably beat the pair 8-1.

On the last day of the tournament, Cayetano and Willson squared off against San Diego State sophomore Alicia Melosch and junior Nnena Nadozie. The Trojans continued what seemed to be an unstoppable streak by defeating the Aztecs 8-5.

Fittingly, the Trojans’ semifinal match was against none other than UCLA. The Bruins’ doubles team consisted of junior Abi Altick and sophomore Taylor Johnson. 

Altick and Johnson bested Cayetano and Willson in a close first set, 6-4. Despite the Trojans’ efforts to stay alive, they were eliminated in the following set by a 6-2 score. 

Cayetano and Willson were not the only Trojans to pair up in the doubles tournament. Sophomore Salma Ewing and senior Sydney Van Alphen — as well as the team of sophomore Estella Jaeger and junior Ana Neffa — fell at the hands of Arizona doubles teams.

The singles tournament saw a few Trojans advance, but USC went out much quieter than in doubles play.

Jaeger was victorious in the Round of 128 by winning both sets 6-4 but was defeated in the following round. Van Alphen took her match 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the Round of 64 but lost in the Round of 32 to Hawaii junior Bojana Markovic.

Along with her doubles play, Willson fared well in the singles part of the tournament. She and Ewing were the only remaining Trojans heading into the Round of 16. 

After a back-and-forth match with freshman Lisa Zarr of Pepperdine, Willson failed to find the same success she had in the doubles tournament and took the loss 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. Ewing managed to take care of business in the round, however, and won a 6-3, 6-4 match against San Diego senior Kati Kukaras. 

Ewing’s quest for the singles crown came up short the next day when UCLA freshman Abbey Forbes beat her in back-to-back sets.

After such a strong showing against New Mexico, Loyola Marymount and Iowa State in the Women of Troy Invitational earlier this month, the Trojan women did not find as much success in this tournament. The team had a singles record of 11-1 and a doubles record of 5-1 in the previous tournament — but the Trojans ended this weekend with a combined 6-5 record in singles matchups and a 3-3 record in doubles play. 

The Trojan women will look to get back on track as they prepare for the ITA Fall Nationals.