Strong showing for CU at ITA's
TOPEKA, Kansas (September 27) – The Cameron Aggie women’s tennis team traveled to Topeka, Kansas, this weekend to participate in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Regional Championship tournament. CU is in the southwest section of the tournament, a region which is described as one of the toughest in the country. CU finished the tournament with one representative in the final four of both the singles and the doubles draws.
Due to the limited number of players each team could bring to the tournament, Cameron only brought their top 3 women. Cameron was represented in the tournament this year by Carolina Mullor, Elle Sholles, and Amanda Moberg. All three Aggie women reached the second round, but the standout player of the weekend was Moberg.
“This year’s tournament was the strongest I have seen it in years, and to have all three players winning their first round is big,” Head Coach James Helvey said.
All three women started play early on Friday morning. First on the court was senior Carolina Mullor who took on Lisa Pendrak of Northwest Missouri State University. Mullor played solid and was in control throughout the whole match and won by the score of 6-1, 6-2 to book her place into the second round. Freshman Elle Sholles had a tougher opening match where she took on Faiga Schmidt of Southwest Baptist University.
After cruising through the first set and winning it 6-1, Sholles needed to bring her A-game to win the second set by the score of 7-5 to place her in the second round.
Newcomer Amanda Moberg met the expectations of being the #1 player of the team and won her first round match easily. The talented CU player beat Michaela Romanova of Northeastern State University (NSU) by the score of 6-3, 6-2.
After only a couple of hours of rest, the girls were in action again in singles play. Unfortunately, Mullor and Sholles could not keep their momentum at a high and lost their second round matches. Mullor fell to Zuzanna Osinka of NSU, 6-1, 6-2, while Sholles lost to Stephanie Rodriguez of the University of the Incarnate Word by the score of 6-2, 6-0.
“Both Carolina and Elle played well, they fought hard against tough opponents,” Coach Helvey said. “I am happy with the way they played and represented us on the court.”
The highlight of the tournament was the display of Moberg’s outstanding performance. In her second round match, Moberg nearly lost to Abilene Christian University’s (ACU) #1 player, Julia Mongin after facing three match-points down 2-5 in the third set. Moberg showed tremendous commitment and turned the match around to finish on top. The final score was 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
“Amanda was committed and you could see in her eyes that she wanted the win,” Coach Helvey said. “I was proud to see that she never gave up and that is why she won the match.”
On Saturday morning, Moberg took care of business where she quickly won both of her singles matches to book a place in the semifinals of the tournament. In her round of 16’s match, she defeated Julia Shviadok of the University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), by the score of 6-2, 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Moberg dismissed Tarleton State University’s Adriana Jaskova, 6-2, 6-1.
On early Sunday morning, Moberg faced the same Osinka of NSU who beat Mullor in the second round of the tournament. After quickly taking the lead and being up 5-2 in the first set, the freshman could not keep her emotions controlled and lost the set, 7-5.
Osinka took advantage of her experiences competing at a collegiate level for four years and proved to be the stronger player at key points. She won the second set by the score of 6-4.
“Amanda did great and I am proud of her results this weekend,” Coach Helvey said. “Reaching the semis as a freshman in her first ever regional tournament is not bad. She will only keep improving from this point.”
In the doubles tournament, the duo of Moberg and Sholles won their three opening doubles matches in decisive fashion to book their place into the final four slots of the tournament. In the semi-final match, the ladies fought well against the duo of Walker and Pavlin from ACU, but lost by the score of 7-6, 6-0.
“It has been an outstanding tournament,” Coach Helvey said. “To have a representative in the final four of both the singles and the doubles draw is great. Amanda and Elle are both freshman and that makes things even more exciting. I am positive that from here on, we will only improve. These results will definitely fire up our whole women’s team for the spring season.”
The Aggie women’s tennis team next competes in the Lone Star Conference Individual Championship tournament on October 9-10. The annual LSC event will close out the fall season for the Aggies.
