Women’s Tennis Competes at ITA Regionals and Midwest Invite

WHITEWATER, Wis. - On Friday, the CUW women's tennis team competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women's Midwest Regional Championship and the Midwest Invite.  

CUW had four athletes compete in singles play at the ITAs.

In ITA singles play, after a first round bye, senior Ricki Budewitz (Watertown, Wis.) took the convincing 6-3, 6-2 win over Cornell College's Tansy Graves to advance to the round of 32 where she will face Luther's Abby Ostermann at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 23rd.

Senior Ashley Samuta (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) defeated Grinnell's Nehir Ergun in the opening round 6-1, 6-2, before being bounced in the round of 64 by UW-Whitewater's Cassandra Lee 6-1, 6-2.

The first round also saw freshman Sofia Buhr (Blumenau, Brazil) take on Sydney Marin from Grinnell. After dropping the first set 3-6, Buhr took set two 6-4 and won the tiebreaker 10-4 to advance to the next round. In the round of 64, Julia Maier from the College of St. Scholastica would get the best of Buhr, securing the 6-4, 7-6 (3) win.

Senior Mallory Moen (Neenah, Wis.) secured the 6-4, 6-1 victory over Wartburg's Natalie Kaiser before falling 12-10 in a tiebreaker to Luther's Sofia Sackett in the round of 64.

In ITA doubles play, partners Ricki Budewitz and Ashley Samuta took down Naia Samuelson and Izzy Brinkman of UW-La Crosse 8-5, and will resume tournament play on Saturday.

ITA doubles play also saw senior duo Mia Andrae (Cedarburg, Wis.) and Mallory Moen defeat UW-Whitewater's Sarah Ferguson and Megan Griswold 8-6 in their first round matchup. Andrae and Moen would fall to Bethel's Lauren Douglas and Julia in the next round 8-4.

Meanwhile, four Falcons competed in the Midwest Invite singles tournament. 

In the Midwest Invite Single D bracket, senior Mia Andrae advanced to the tournament semifinals after defeating Loras' Jessie Yelaska 6-2, 6-4 and Cornell's Audrey Small 6-4, 6-0. Andrae will resume action next Saturday. 

Meanwhile, freshman Morgan Chyla (Salem Lakes, Wis.) fell in the first round of the Midwest Invite Singles A bracket 6-3, 6-4, 10-5 to Simpson's Maggie Hall.

In the Midwest Invite Singles B bracket, Carroll's Kate Trifilio was too much for CUW junior Peyton Morgan (Arlington, Ill.) as Trifilio pulled out the 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 victory.

Junior Mya Werning (Watertown, Wis.) fell to Luther's Natalie Neff 6-1, 6-4 in the Midwest Invite Singles C bracket. 

In doubles, Morgan Chyla and Peyton Morgan were unable to defeat UW-Eau Claire. Meanwhile, Sofia Buhr and Mya Werning went undefeated on the day as they defeated Loras' Carolina Hutchinson and Leia Papanicholas with a big 8-3 victory.

ITA and Midwest Invite play will continue for the CUW women's tennis team on Saturday, September 23rd at UW-Whitewater.