The University of Utah Women’s Tennis team was in action this week at the ITA Regionals. With success in both duos and singles, the Utes definitely left their mark in Las Vegas.

Utah started off with a bang by going undefeated on the first day of competition. Doubles pair Madison Tattini and Whitney Hekking picked up an 8-5 victory against the opposing team from Air Force. Madeline Lamoreaux and Lindsey Hung dominated the duo from Montana to send both Utes doubles teams to the round of 32.

On the singles court, all four Utes served up a beating to their opponents. Needless to say, Utah dominated day one of the competition and were riding high going into the round of 32.

Day two of competition kicked off with both doubles teams once again dominating the game. Lamoreaux and Hung beat Wyoming competitors Ana Fernandez and Ana Royo 8-5. Tattini and Hekking steamrolled Hsuan Yu Lin and Rachel Lee from UNLV 8-1. After their overpowering performances, both teams qualified for the round of 16 the following day.

For singles, Lamoreaux rallied back after dropping the opening match 5-7. She then went on to win back to back matches and defeat #2 seed TJ Fumagalli from Air Force. Hung breezed past Madeline Almeida from rival BYU as well.

Tattini joined Lamoreaux and Hung in the round of 16 after going head to head with Hannah Jones of Utah State. Tattini knocked Jones out by a score of 6-2, 6-2. Hekking received the less-than-enviable challenge of facing top seed Chiara Tomasetti of Northern Arizona. Hekking came up short and fell to Tomasetti after two matches.

Day three of the ITA Regionals saw Hekking and Tattini advance to the semifinals for doubles, as well as Tattini advancing to the semis in singles. At the beginning of the day, Hekking and Tattini ended Utah State’s duos run. They then proceeded to play Northern Arizona’s duos. While NAU top seed Tomasetti was across the net, Utah put an end to the NAU doubles team. Hung and Lamoreaux found success in their go-around against Colorado State, beating Priscilla Palermo and Alyssa Grijalva 8-6. However, in the quarter-final round, Lamoreaux and Hung were stopped just short of advancing to the semis by NAU’s other duos team by a final score of 5-8.

In the singles rounds, Tattini quickly put Camille Verdon Anderson of Denver to rest. Tattini qualified for the semifinals in both duos and singles after this win. Lamoreaux, while racking up a quick victory in the first match, fell at the hands of Alisia Manolescu from New Mexico. Hung and Hekking finished off the day with consolation bracket play. Hung dropped her hard-fought matchup to second seed Fumagalli of Air Force. Hekking was victorious in her matchup against NAU’s Adrianna Sosnowska.

Utah’s run at the Regionals came to an end on the fourth day of their outing. At the beginning of the day, doubles team Tattini and Hekking faced Izumi Asano and En-Pei Huang from UNLV. Despite a very back-and-forth match, the Utes sadly came up just short. In the singles category, Tattini fell after a competitive game with one seed Tomasetti.

After the final match, Head Coach Ric Mortera commented on the past days of competition.

“Overall, we are happy with the progress the team has been making. We certainly still have plenty to work on, but saw a lot of positives throughout the tournament. We are excited to continue focusing on improving and preparing for our next opportunity to compete.”

The Utes will continue fall competition in Lexington, Kentucky, where they will be competing in the Kentucky Invite from Nov. 1-3.

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