Three of Liberty’s five doubles teams were victorious on the second day of competition at the ITA Atlantic Regional, Friday at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center.
Additionally, the Lady Flames’ Marina Davtyan and Esther Lovato each won a match in the singles main draw’s round of 64.
Liberty will have three doubles teams competing tomorrow in the round of 32. In total, the Lady Flames posted a 3-2 doubles mark and 2-3 singles record today. Through two days, Liberty is 3-2 in doubles and 5-6 in singles.
Key Stats & Notes
• All five Liberty doubles units competed in the morning, and three were victorious: Maria Juliana Parra Romero/Priscila Janikian, Esther Lovato/Marina Davtyan and Tiffany Nguyen/Micaela Ode Mitre.
• Parra Romero and Janikian, the No. 14 seed in the main draw, met Virginia Tech’s Sophia Mitchell and Kirsten Husted in an indoor match at 8:30 a.m. The Liberty duo won 8-2, improving to 3-0 on the season in the process. They will meet Lara Bakhaya and Elizabeth Novak of Richmond tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. in the round of 32.
• Lovato and Davtyan squared off with Navy’s Sia Chaudry and Stella Ribaudo in their opening round matchup and took the victory by an 8-1 count. They move on to face No. 10 seed Hannah McColgan and Jojo Bach of Maryland, tomorrow at 10:45 a.m.
• Liberty’s No. 12 seed, Nguyen and Ode Mitre, were also dominant in victory today. The duo topped William & Mary’s Raffaela Alhach and Elisa van Meeteren 8-2. Nguyen and Ode Mitre stay unbeaten at 6-0 this fall and advance to tomorrow’s round of 32 where they will take on host Virginia Tech’s Charlotte Cartledge and Dariya Radulova. Match time is 11:30 a.m.
• In singles, Davtyan knocked off the Hokies’ Tamara Barad Itzhaki in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, in her first contest. Davtyan faced No. 6 seed Melodie Collard of Virginia next and fell 6-0, 6-1.
• Lovato pulled off an improbable comeback against Maryland’s No. 2 player, Marta Perez Mur in her first match of the day, a match which lasted three hours. The Liberty junior trailed 5-2 in the third set before coming back to eventually force a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Lovato saved a match point while trailing 6-5 and went on to win 8-6. Her 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (6) triumph sent her to the next round on Friday evening.
• Lovato fell in straight sets (6-0, 6-0) to her next foe, No. 5 seed Elaine Chervinsky of Virginia. The loss was Lovato’s first of the fall, as she dropped to 7-1.
• The Lady Flames’ Parra Romero entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed in singles. In a battle of sophomores, it was sophomore Kendall Kovick of West Virginia who topped Parra Romero in consecutive sets, 6-3, 6-1.
Up Next
Day three of the ITA Atlantic Regional will commence at 8 a.m. and features the round of 32 and 16 doubles, round of 16 singles and consolation matches.
Remaining Schedule
Saturday – 8 a.m. start – Round of 32 and 16 doubles, Round of 16 singles, consolation matches
Sunday – 9 or 10 a.m. start – Quarterfinals and Semifinals of doubles, Quarterfinals of singles, consolation matches
Monday – 9 or 10 a.m. start – Finals of doubles, Semifinals and Finals of singles
Original source can be found here.
