Richmond, KY - Coming off their fourth consecutive trip to the NAIA National Championships, the Patriots women's tennis team got a taste for this year's competition as they had a strong showing at the ITA Regionals taking place Thursday-Saturday.  Five of Cumberlands six singles players and all three of their doubles pairs recorded at least one win at the tournament as veteran Tomomi Nagao was the Patriots top performer advancing to the semifinals.  

Nagao, the reigning MSC Player of the Year, entered the tournament as the fourth-seed and posted a 3-1 record on the week.  After recieving a first-round bye, Nagao defeated Georgetown's Samantha Spady 6-1, 6-1.  The graduate student tallied a 6-1, 6-0 win over the 16th-seed Nicole Viljoen of Union, before taking out the 15th-seed Parisa Rachdanone of Lindsey Wilson 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.  That win marked the third straight year that Nagao advanced to the semifinals of the ITA Regionals.  In the semifinals, she battled top-seed Stephanie Petit of Montreat and ultimately fell 6-1, 6-1.

A pair of Patriots newcomers, Meire Okuwaki and Melody Fan Schau, tallied multiple singles win at the tournament advancing them into the round of 16.  Okuwaki opened regionals with a 6-3, 6-7 (10-0) win over Darika Mladenovic of Lindsey Wilson in the round of 64 to advance to face eighth-seed Mikaela Fros.  Fros took the first set 6-3, however Okuwaki rallied 6-0 in the second seed to force the tiebreaker, which she won 1-0 (2) to advance to the round of 16. After a back-and-forth battle Okuwaki fell to Rachdanone 6-4, 7-5.

On the other side of the bracket, Fan Schau defeated Ana Forero (Georgetown) 6-2, 6-2 in the round of 64.  In the next round, Fan Schau blanked 11th-seed Noelia Martinez Garcia of Thomas More in straight sets 6-0, 6-0 to advance to the round of 16.  Next, Fan Schau faced sixth-seed Maci Ferguson and after a hard battle fell 6-2, 7-6.  

Hana Shimeno and Catherine Rae each posted a win in their opening matches.  Shimeno defeat Sydney Johasson (Thomas More) 6-0, 6-0, while Rae knocked Madison Hill (Campbellsville) 6-4, 6-0 to advance to the second round.  Both players ultimately fell in the second round to seeded opponents.

In doubles play, UC's top doubles team of Nagao and Fros reached the quarterfinals after defeating Montreat's Hernandez and Beckmann in the round of 16.  The tandem then faced seventh-seed Mendoza and Espinoza (Campbellsville) and fell 8-3.

At the bottom of the bracket, Tessa Gray and Catherine Rae opened the tournament with an 8-5 win over Enarson and Kennedy (Milligan) to advance to the round of 16 before falling to second-seed Mora and Parra (Lindsey Wilson) 8-3.  

The Patriots final tandem, Johanna Beckmann and Satsuki Mitani knocked of Rodenas and Arteaga of Union.  In the round of 16, the duo battled sixth-seed Mladenovic and Rachdanone of Lindsey Wilson in a closely contested match.  The match went back and forth and was eventually tied at 7-7 before Mladenovic and Rachdanone took the tiebreaker (1) and the match. 

UC will have a three week break before their next event as they set their sights on the Mid-South Conference Invite in Owensboro, KY beginning on October 8th and running through the 10th.

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