Box Score GREENWOOD, Ind. – The University of Indianapolis women's tennis team is home to a ITA Midwest Regional Champion once again!
Tyffaine Pais, in her first ever regional tournament as a Greyhound ran the gauntlet to capture the crown, defeating teammate
Benedetta Sensi in the finals in three sets.
Heading into the day, three of the four semifinalists were all Greyhounds, with fellow newcomer
Ana Hollweg and Malak Arafat of Wayne State rounding it out.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Pais faced off with a familiar foe on the first match of her day, taking on teammate Hollweg in her semifinals match. Set one was back and forth, with finesse play out of Pais turning the tides in her favor. The physical play of Hollweg kept her in the match in set two, but the eventual champion triumphed in set two 7-5.
Sensi was the lone Hound on the day to face a non UIndy opponent, facing the nine-seeded Arafat. It was a similar match to that of Pais and Hollweg, with the first set going 6-4. But it was more of a grind for the Italian Sensi in set two with the pair being knotted up 7-6. The subsequent tiebreak went Sensi's way 7-5.
After a tough and grueling weekend, Pais and Sensi squared off to find which of the Greyhounds would be crowned champion. Sensi jumped all over Pais in set one, winning a tiebreak to go up by a set. But Pais outlasted her, grabbing the second 6-3 and the eventually third set tiebreak 10-5 to capture the crown.
HOUND BYTES
Head Coach Malik Tabet on the tournament and is players performance…
"They did not expect this tournament to be so grueling on their bodies and their minds, and what was impressive was how much they dug in. I don't remember the last time we had two UIndy student athletes, especially newcomers, playing in the finals of the regional tournament and that says a lot to me. Super excited about how they performed, how they represented our institution and I'm excited for them to battle it out at the ITA Cup."
UP NEXT
The Hounds have this coming weekend off, but get right back into fall tournament action next weekend, taking on a tournament hosted by fellow Circle City school IUPUI.
DAY 2
Picking right back up from yesterday, Pais grabbed an efficient 6-3, 6-1 victory in her R16 match to etch her spot in the quarters, a performance she replicated, dominating her quarterfinal foe 6-2, 6-3 with little strain.
Hollweg faced a bit of adversity from her first match, taking the first 6-3 but dropping set two 6-4. It didn't faze the freshman as she rattled off a 10-7 third set. Wanting to wrap up her day quick, she dropped Ewa Samberger of Drury in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
For Flament and Sensi, it has been smooth sailing to this point, the pair picking up a 6-2 dub in the R16 and then a 6-3 victory in the quarterfinals.
Flament kept her pace from yesterday in singles, going 6-0, 6-3 in her first match, but suffering an injury in match two, ending her tournament run.
Valentine Colin, another one of the newcomers to the Hounds, saw her first match of the day be her last, losing in an absolute thriller of a three-set match, with the final set going to an 18-16 decision.
Maissane Aik, after battling through a tough foe in her first match of the day, fell to the No. 2-seeded Paula Ballesteros of Southwest Baptist in two close sets on her sweet-16 match.
DAY 1
Of the newcomers,
Tyffaine Pais,
Ana Hollweg,
Valentine Colin, and
Benedetta Sensi all had quality starts to their Greyhound career. Pais captured a straight-sets victory against an opponent from Davenport, while Hollweg also ended it in two, winning 6-2, 6-3 over Carolina Velazquez of Maryville. Victory was not as smooth for Colin and Sensi, each being forced into a third set to find the win.
Returners
Diane Flament and
Maissane Aik drew into their experience well, making quick work of their opponents to grab straight-set dubs.
Maria Fiacan suffered a first-round loss on day one.
Doubles saw
Diane Flament and Benedetta win 6-3 over a familiar pair of GLVC-foes in Ghada Dirninger and Elsa Pascual of Southwest Baptist. The other two pairs of Greyhound doubles pairing were handed losses on their first day of the tournament.
