Tennis Represented at ITA Regional Tournament

SALINA, Kan. - Doane Tennis competed at the ITA Regional Championships hosted by Kansas Wesleyan over three days. The Tigers had five competitors in action in the tournament, three men and two women.

The women's tournament was a monumental one for the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) as four players received a Top 16 seed, a first in conference history. Additionally, three of the top four seeds were GPAC players. Doane's Maria Purizaca was the No. 2 seed and Liz Calderon was the No. 16 seed. Morningside's Line Jensen received the No. 1 seed and Concordia's Mariana Molano was the No. 4 seed.

Calderon went 1-1 in the tournament. She opened with a 6-3, 6-4, win over Ashley Miller (Oklahoma Wesleyan). In the next round, she dropped her match to Chakira Derman (Concordia), 2-6, 5-7.

Purizaca repeated her performance from her freshman year, making a run to the finals. She opened with a 6-0, 6-0, win over Kylee Bragaw (Avila). In the next round, she defeated Madeline Henderson (Oklahoma Wesleyan), 6-1, 6-0. In the Round of 16, Purizaca defeated 15-seed Carla Arce (Texas Wesleyan), 6-3, 6-1.

In the quarterfinal round, 7-seed Rocio Espinal (Oklahoma Wesleyan) nearly knocked off Purizaca but the Tiger junior battled back and won 3-6, 6-3, 16-14. Purizaca defeated 6-seed Daniela Casique (Bethel, KS) in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-3. In the championship match, an all-GPAC final pitted her against Jensen. Jensen won the match 3-6, 3-6.

Purizaca and Calderon teamed up in doubles play and went 1-1 as the 8-seed. They opened with an 8-3 win over Greta Fankhauser and Danna Arroyo (Sterling). In the Round of 16, they dropped their match, 4-8, to Kristina Dimitrijevic and Charlotte Ready (William Woods).

On the men's side, Mats Vervloet went 1-1 in singles play. He opened with a 6-3, 3-6, 10-8, win over Carlos Grimaldi (Saint Mary, KS). In the next round, he dropped his match to the 4-seed, Jorge Gabriel Batista (Bethel, KS), 1-6, 0-6.

Jaime Asiain Banzo went 0-2 in singles play. He dropped his opening match to 10-seed Cole Horton (William Woods), 2-6, 1-6. In the consolation bracket, he was downed by Enzo Ceravolo (Ottawa), 6-8.

In doubles play, Vervloet teamed up with Diego Infante. In their opening match, they lost to Jarmo Wienese and Ceravolo (Ottawa), 3-8. They bounced back in the consolation bracket with a 6-4 win over Joel Carter and Ben Hafer (Hastings). In the consolation quarterfinals, they lost to Nudem Koyuncu and Grimaldi (Saint Mary, KS).

Next up for the Tiger tennis teams will be the Hastings Invite on October 3-4 in Hastings.