SAN DIEGO – UC Irvine came out strong in the opening day of both the ITA Southwest Regional and Triton Fall Invitational sending three Anteaters to additional championship rounds as well as two doubles pairings.
 
At the ITA Southwest Regional, Kayla Meraz was dominant in her qualifying draw taking down Anastasia Bozova from LMU 6-0, 6-3 to advance to the main draw on Friday.
 
Over at the Triton Fall Invitational, the day started off with the doubles matches that saw two out of the three Anteater duos moving onto Friday's semifinals. Mikaela Hinton and Maily Huynh teamed up for an 8-5 win over their opposition from UC San Diego while Yen Nhi Huynh and Bella Pitchford recorded an 8-3 victory over CSUN.
 
Pitchford's success in doubles carried over to her singles approach as she took down UCSD's Varsha Jawadi 6-4, 6-1 in the round of 16. It was a battle for the sophomore in her quarterfinals match with the Triton's Athena Wardy as she was able to come out on top 7-5, 7-6 (8-6) in a down to the wire contest for a place in the semifinals.
 
Nour Khayat went to three sets in her round of 16 match against Anushree Shekhera from Cal Poly. The junior went 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 against the Mustang to move onto the quarterfinals. Khayat continued to fight hard in her second individual match of the day taking the first set easily 6-2 from CSUN's Madison Shepperson and her resilience led her to the 7-6 (7-3) win in set two to join Pitchford in the semifinals.


ITA SOUTHWEST REGIONAL RESULTS
 
SINGLES EAST -- ROUND OF 64
Emma Moratalla Sanz (CSUN) def. Haily Huynh (UCI) 6-3, 7-6 (7-5)
Charlotte Roesch (SDSU) def. Carolyna Fowler (UCI) 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1)
 
SINGLES EAST -- ROUND OF 32
Kayla Meraz (UCI) def. Anastasia Bozova (LMU) 6-0, 6-3


TRITON FALL INVITATIONAL RESULTS
 
MAIN DRAW SINGLES -- ROUND OF 16
Sarah MacCallum (CP) def. Lindsay Kim (UCI) 6-4, 6-1
Eliza Bates (CP) def. Yen Nhi Huynh (UCI) 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
Natalie Lynch (CP) def. Mikaela Hinton (UCI) 6-2, 6-3
Athena Wardy (UCSD) def. Maily Huynh (UCI) 6-2, 6-3
Nour Khayat (UCI) def. Anushree Shekhera (CP) 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
Bella Pitchford (UCI) def. Varsha Jawadi (UCSD) 6-4, 6-1
 
MAIN DRAW SINGLES -- QUARTERFINALS
Nour Khayat (UCI) def. Madison Shepperson (CSUN) 6-2, 7-6 (7-3)
Bella Pitchford (UCI) def. Athena Wardy (UCSD) 7-5, 7-6 (8-6)
 
DOUBLES -- ROUND OF EIGHT
Bates/Lynch (CP) def Khayat/Kim (UCI) 7-6
Hinton/M. Huynh (UCI) def. Nair/Wardy (UCSD) 8-5
Y. Huynh/Pitchford (UCI) def. Wilson/Shepperson (CSUN) 8-3
 
UP NEXT
Championship runs continue for UCI while additional extra matches will be played.