By: Joseph Hovey
CORAL GABLES, Fla. —
Ema Baraniakova and
Adela Zingorova became the first doubles pair in program history to reach an ITA Regional quarterfinal, just one of several strong showings turned in by Kennesaw State women's tennis at the ITA Southeast Regional Championships, Oct. 8-12 at Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
"Overall, I was happy with how we played and competed against arguably the strongest regional competition in the country," said KSU director of tennis
Matt Emery. "Ema and Adela coming within a game of being in the doubles semifinal was a great run. It was also great to see us have some really strong singles performances as well."
Ema Baraniakova and Zingorova opened doubles play with an 8-4 win over Georgia Southern's Natalie Crawford and Franziska Heinemann.
The Owls' top pair then defeated Georgia's No. 2, Anastasiia Gureva and Nadia Lagaev, 8-7 (7-5) in the Round of 32. Following another 8-7 (7-5) win in the Round of 16, this time over Mercer's Tea Zivic and Sofiya Tsitavets, the KSU tandem's run came to an end in the regional quarterfinal with a 5-8 loss to Florida State's Ariana Gilbert and Nicole Okhtenberg.
Ema Baraniakova and Zingorova are now 7-3 on the season in doubles play.
Doubles success wasn't isolated to the Owls' Czech-Slovak tandem.
Maria Ivankovic and
Laura Nadaska registered an 8-6 win over Camila Maldonado and Yuki Mizuguchi of Stetson to advance out of the doubles opening round. The KSU pair (8-1) was dealt their first defeat of the season by host Miami's Sebastianna Scilipoti and Daria Volosova in a 3-8 Round of 32 decision.
Ema Baraniakova also shone in singles action with a straight-set toppling of Florida's Capucine Jauffret in the Main Draw Round of 64. At 6-4, 6-4, the senior Owl from Leopoldov, Slovakia, overcame the Gators' prized freshman. Jauffret arrived in Gainesville ranked No. 847 in WTA singles as high as 48
th in the ITF world junior rankings.
A 4-6, 2-6 loss to UCF's Jantje Tilbuerger eliminated
Ema Baraniakova (7-1) in the singles Round of 32. The Knights' Tilbuerger currently ranks No. 77 nationally in the ITA's singles standings.
Terezia Baraniakova, Nadaska and Zingorova also recorded singles wins in Coral Gables, with each advancing out of the Qualifying Draw Round of 64.
Terezia Baraniakova topped Georgia State's Sveva Bernardi 6-0, 6-1 before falling to Olivia Carneiro of Georgia Tech.
Nadaska defeated Georgia Southern's Heinemann 6-3, 6-0, then came up short in the Round of 32 versus the Yellow Jackets' Rishita Basireddy.
Zingorova delivered KSU another win over a power conference foe with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Eleni Karantali of Georgia Tech. A narrow, 6-7 (7-9), 6-7 (5-7) loss to South Florida's Zoe Lazar ended Zingorova's singles run.
After a week of matches in Coral Gables, the Owls take a week off before returning to the court for two final fall tournaments.
"We're happy to have a weekend off and are excited to finish the fall on a good note with two more strong tournaments," Emery said.
KSU caps the fall at the Georgia Southern Fall Shootout (Oct. 23-25) and UTR College Tennis Showcase (Oct. 30-Nov. 1) in Statesboro and Rome, Georgia, respectively.
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