Women of Troy fall short during tournament play
In any preseason tournament, wins and losses do not matter nearly as much as they will later in the season. The Women of Troy, however, suffered some tough losses at the Riviera Women’s All-American Tennis Championships from Oct. 1 through Oct. 9.
Junior Danielle Lao lost in the Round of 16 in the main draw singles bracket, dropping two out of three sets to Duke’s Beatrice Capra. After losing the first set 4-6, Lao rallied to take the second set 6-4 before ultimately falling short in the third set 2-6. Lao won her first match against Baylor’s Diana Nakic in quick fashion by a score of 6-2, 6-0.
The standout in the singles bracket, however, was freshman Zoe Scandalis. Making her collegiate debut, the San Diego native took on California’s Jana Juricova, the No. 1 player in the country, in the Round of 16 in the main draw singles bracket after defeating a slew of opponents in the prequalifying and qualifying brackets.
In the match, Juricova appeared to be on her way to an easy win over the freshman after taking the first set 6-2. But Scandalis rallied to win the second set 7-5 and the battle was on. The third set was a tight one that needed a tiebreaker to be decided. After jumping out to a 4-0 lead, Scandalis could not hold off the top-ranked Juricova and ultimately lost, 7-6.
On the doubles side of the bracket, sophomore Kaitlyn Christian was paired with freshman Sabrina Santamaria. The pair fared well in the qualifying stage, winning three straight matches. After a first round win in the main draw, however, the two stumbled against Sofie Oyen and Allie Will of Florida.
Freshman Gabriella DeSimone also paired with Scandalis in the doubles side of the bracket. The freshman duo won its first two matches in the prequalifying stage but lost in the third round.
DeSimone and Santamaria also played in the singles tournament, falling during the prequalifying stage.
Christian lost in the third round of the qualifying stage to Florida’s Joanna Mather.
The Women of Troy play next at the ITA Southwest Regional Championships, beginning Oct. 21 in San Diego.
It is time for a new head coach after sixteen years with only one final four to show for all of the seasons. Think that is enough time to have accomplished a lot more in comparison to the men who have won three straight titles recently.