Oct. 2, 2007

A number of Southwestern University tennis players took part in the ITA Regional Tournament held in Abilene, TX this past weekend with a pair of players reaching the tournament Round of 16.

Senior Leslie Smith (Temple, TX/Temple HS) was the seventh seed in the tournament and she won her first match (6-2, 6-3) and followed that up with a (6-0, 6-0) victory to move in to the Round of 16. She then faced off against ninth-seeded Katy Poettcker from Trinity University and fell in three sets (6-1, 4-6, 6-1).

Sophomore Mary Pennington (San Antonio, TX/Churchill HS) was seeded eighth and she opened the tournament with a convincing (6-2, 6-0) win. Her next match went just as smoothly, winning in two sets (6-0, 6-1), before falling to Trinity's Sarah Chalos (6-2, 7-5). Senior Laura Evanoff (Breckenridge, TX/Breckenridge HS) earned a (6-0, 6-0) win in her opening match against Jenna Sweat from Texas Lutheran University before falling to the #3 seed from Hardin-Simmons University (6-1, 6-3).

Allison Noblitt (Lake Jackson, TX/Brazoswood HS) dropped her first round match (6-2, 6-2) but came back in the consolation bracket to defeated the #15 seed Keeley Brown from Howard Payne University (7-6, 7-5). She then dropped a (6-2, 6-2) decision in the third round. First-year Lali Satyavada (Midland, TX/Lee HS) also dropped her first round match (6-1, 6-3) but found new life in the consolation rounds. She took down the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor's Amber Long (4-6, 6-3, 10-7) but then dropped her next match (6-3, 7-6). Sophomore Emily Gutzmer (Austin, TX/Anderson HS) fell in her only match (6-2, 6-0).

In women's doubles action, Gutzmer and Smith were the seventh seed and won their first two matches by identical scores (8-6). They were then bested (8-5) by the number two seed from Trinity in the quarterfinals. The fifth-seeded duo of Pennington and Evanoff lost a tightly contested opening round match (9-8) while Noblitt and Satyavada fell (8-6) in their first round match.

In men's play, sophomore Charles Prince (Port Arthur, TX/Memorial HS) and first-year D'Artagnan Bebel (The Woodlands, TX/Oak Ridge HS) teamed up in doubles action and fell (8-1) to the top-seeded duo of Ryan Desantis and Oliver Gaines from Trinity.

In singles play, Bebel lost (6-0, 6-0) to the sixth seed in the tournament and then dropped his consolation match (6-3, 6-2). Prince also lost in the opening round (6-1, 6-4) and then lost a hard-fought match in the consolation first round (6-3, 4-6, 10-8) to UMHB's Alex Graham.

The Pirates begin their spring season February 16 when they travel to Kerrville, TX to take on the Schreiner University Mountaineers at 10:00 a.m.