The Troy men’s and women’s tennis teams competed at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational on Nov. 5-8 in Orlando, Florida.
The first day at the tournament went well for the Trojans, as they lost only three matches. Troy brought a total of 10 players to the tournament.
Senior Daniel Bustamante lost his match 2-6, 2-6 to sophomore Pedro Iamachkine from Pepperdine University.
Sophomore Sanae Ohta lost her match 2-6, 4-6 to Florida State University’s No. 66-ranked redshirt senior Daneika Borthwick.
Freshman Tereza Melicharkova lost her match 1-6, 2-6 to sophomore Laura Patterson.
The second day of competition was not as successful, though, as seven singles were defeated. After those losses, senior Giovani Samaha and sophomore Nancy Karaky were the only Trojans left in the tournament.
Samaha lost his quarterfinal match 3-6, 2-6 to redshirt sophomore Gabriel Friedrich from the University of South Carolina.
Karaky lost a hard-fought match, 3-6, 6-7, in her matchup against senior Tristen Dewar from Clemson University.
All but one doubles team lost. The team of sophomores Efriliya Herlina and Jiayuan Xue won its match 8-2 against freshman Alexe Viaud and junior Brittany Hill from Stetson University.
Troy sophomore Andre Baldo and Bustamante’s match was close. They lost 6-8 to freshman Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and junior Sean Donohue of the University of Louisville.
There was one upside for the Trojans in the quarterfinal round, however. Herlina and Xue won their match 8-5 against seniors Taly Merker and Manoela Chiacchio from Louisiana Tech.
Herlina and Xue went on to the semifinals on Sunday, Nov. 8. They lost 5-8 to freshman Ally Miller-Krasilnikov and Dewar from the Clemson University.
With the conclusion of this tournament, Troy’s fall season has ended. Its next matches start in January, when team scores count.
The men’s first matchup is against the University of Louisville on Friday, Jan. 15, and the women’s first matchup is against the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, on Saturday, Jan. 23.
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