TOPEKA, Kan. -- For a second straight season and the third time overall No. 24 Washburn women's tennis is heading to the NCAA National Championships after knocking off No. 27 Augustana 4-2. The Ichabods head to Orlando, Fla. for national competition beginning May 11.
Washburn (17-6), the second seed in the Central Region, defeated the third seeded Vikings (21-4) for the second time this season, and for the second year in a row in the Central Region Tournament.
Augustana struck first in doubles action, as Issabella Pensavalle and Isabella Martensson fell 6-1 at No. 2. Sonia Smagina and Maja Jung, ranked No. 8 together nationally, evened up the scoring with a 6-3 victory at No. 1.
After trading the first two games early on, Marta Torres and Casie Curry picked up steam late, winning 6-3 at No. 3 to clinch the doubles point for Washburn.
Singles action went Washburn's way to begin, with No. 2 Smagina winning her opening set 6-2 against No. 31 Florentina Hadjigeorgiou. She followed with a clean sweep in the second set, winning 6-0 to make it a 2-0 match. Martensson lost two sets, 6-3, 6-4 at No. 5, giving the Vikings their first point of the match. Pensavalle fell 6-2, 6-3 on court three which evened the match up.
After trailing early in the first set at No. 2 Jung, ranked No 27, opened her match with a 7-5 win. She carried that momentum into the second set, jumping out to an early lead and winning 6-3 to set up match point.
Playing at No. 4, Torres went back and forth all through the first set, ultimately pulling away in the tiebreaker to win 7-6(3). The second set was more of the same, this time with Torres falling 7-6(6) in an extended tiebreaker. In the third set Torres won the first two games and didn't look back, winning a three hour and fifteen-minute match 6-3 in the third set and clinching the Ichabods spot in nationals.
Curry at No. 3 lost her first set in a tiebreaker, 7-6(4), but responded in the second set, flipping the same score in her favor. The third set was tied at 4-4 when the match was clinched by Torres.
Doubles competition:
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Jung, Maja/Smagina, Sonia (WU) def. Kistanova, Aleksandra/Hadjigeorgiou, Florentina (AU) 6-3
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Arce-Vieyra, Laura/Jancikova, Gabriela (AU) def. Martensson, Isabella/Pensavalle, Issabella (WU) 6-1
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Curry, Casie/Torres, Marta (WU) def. Granson, Emily/Ocal, Senem (AU) 6-3
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles competition:
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Smagina, Sonia (WU) def. Hadjigeorgiou, Florentina (AU) 6-2, 6-0
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Jung, Maja (WU) def. Ocal, Senem (AU) 7-5, 6-3
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Curry, Casie (WU) vs Kistanova, Aleksandra (AU) 6(4)-7, 7-6(4), 4-4 UF
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Torres, Marta (WU) def. Arce-Vieyra, Laura (AU) 7-6(3), 6(6)-7, 6-3
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Jancikova, Gabriela (AU) def. Martensson, Isabella (WU) 6-3, 6-4
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Chouliara, Margarita (AU) def. Pensavalle, Issabella (WU) 6-2, 6-3
Order of finish: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4
