Bowling Green, KY - Coming off their fifth consecutive trip to the NAIA National Championships, the reigning MSC Tournament Champions women's tennis team opened the season with a strong showing on day one of the ITA Fall Regionals. All six Patriots singles players advanced to the second round. Four of which moved on to the third round Friday morning, while all four doubles pairs are still alive. 

Meiri Okuwaki, the reigning MSC Freshman of the Year, entered the tournament as the second-seed. After receiving a first-round bye, Okuwaki defeated Georgetown's Samantha Spady 6-0, 6-0. Okuwaki will play in the third round Friday morning against teammate Catherine Rae.

Patriot newcomer Laura Prieto defeated Bluefield's Camila Coradi 6-2, 6-1 in the first round. In her second match, Campbellsville's Ariadna Perez took the first set 2-6, however, Prieto rallied 5-7 to force the tie breaker, which she won 10-4 to advance to the third round of match play. Prieto will face Darija Mladenovic of Lindsey Wilson Friday.

Marina Nagai was allotted a first round bye. Following this, Nagai beat Bailee Martin and advanced to face Tijana Svitlica next.

On the bottom of the bracket, Catherine Rae beat Bethel's (TN) Sophia Vasconcellos 6-2, 6-0 to advance to the second round. Union's Nicole Viljoen put up a tough fight, but was ultimately defeated by Rae 6-4, 6-4. Rae will face her own teammate, Okuwaki.

Fan Shiau and Mikaela Fros each posted a win in their opening matches. Shiau defeated Maria Arbeleaz (Cumberland) 6-4, 6-1, while Fros knocked Karla Kondol (Union) 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the second round. Both players ultimately fell in the second round to seeded opponents. 

UC's top two doubles teams of Okuwaki and Gray, as well as, Fros and Beckmann received first round byes. Okuwaki and Gray will be playing Nonaka and Covert of Campbellsville, while Fros and Beckhamm have Hernandez and Arbelaez of Cumberland.

On the other side of the bracket, Marina Nagai and Catherine Rae opened the tournament with a win over Grubb and Coradi (Bluefield) to advance to the second round, where they will play the top-seeded Jovic and Viljoen (Union).

The Patriots final tandem, Fan Shiau and Satsuki Mitani opened with knocking off Hot and Rajic of Bethel. The pair will face Kondo and Igarashi of Union in the next round. All doubles play will take place following the completion of singles play on Friday. 

UC will be back in action this Morning starting at 9 am in Bowling Green, KY. 

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