Women’s tennis takes ITA tournament by storm

THE LEWIS & CLARK women’s tennis team travelled to Walla Walla, Wash. this past weekend for the Women’s Fall ITA Tournament held at Whitman College. All members of the team performed excellently, with one of our own pios taking home first place, resulting in the second consecutive year that a player from LC has won the tournament.

The singles draw witnessed four LC players reach the quarterfinals of the ITA tournament. Kacey Incerpi ’18, who had dominated her previous opponents with ease, met with Ella Riddle from Linfield College in the quarterfinals. Incerpi fought hard to rein in a win against the #1 seed, but came just short of a victory with a score of 6-4, 6-1. However, all other remaining LC women advanced into the semifinals, taking out the #2 and #3 seeds from Whitman College and George Fox University respectively. Jose Legarza ’20 in her first ever ITA tournament, managed to beat and upset fellow freshman from Whitman, Andrea Gu, with a score of 6-2, 6-3. In addition, Christine Eliazo ’18 met her match in the quarters against George Fox’s Sarah Tuemmler ’17, but salvaged a 7-5, 6-0 victory in the end. Wiktoria Plawska ’17, seeded #4, breezed by her quarterfinal match against Pacific University’s Kaitlyn Lomartire ‘17 6-1, 6-0 to place herself in the semifinals of the ITA Tournament.

In the semifinals, Eliazo and Riddle met up in the semifinals. In a tough match-up consisting of intense rallies at every point, Eliazo went down 6-3, 6-2 to Linfield’s #1 player. Legarza and Plawska also fought hard and well against each other, with Plawska emerging victorious in the end with a score of 6-3, 6-3. However, both players exemplified their outstanding sportsmanship and camaraderie through a tight hug between teammates immediately after their match ended. This left Plawska to advance into the final round against Ella Riddle ‘18 of Linfield. In an unexpected turn of events, though not altogether surprising, Plawska went into her final match with a sense of confidence, easily handling Riddle and coming up victorious with a score of 6-2, 6-0. As a result, Plawska received first place and earned the title of All-American.

In doubles, two LC teams made it into the quarterfinals. Eliazo and Legarza, debuted together in their first official tournament as partners, managing to easily surpass their first two opponents. In the quarters, they met up against Whitman’s #1 doubles team and the tournament’s #2 seed, Hanna Greenberg ’18 and Mary Hill ’19, eventually losing a hard-fought battle and saving five match points, with a tight score of 9-8. On the other end of the draw, Incerpi and Plawska crushed their Whitman opponents, Allie Wallin ’17 and Andrea Gu ’20, 8-1 in the quarters. Unfortunately, they came up short against the doubles #1 seed, Ella Riddle and Elsa Harris, resulting in a 8-5 defeat.

Four LC freshmen, Chloe Sermet ’20, Jose Legarza ’20, Tashe Hood ’20, Caitlin Jones ’20, participated in the event, with Legarza making it to the singles semifinals and doubles quarterfinals and Hood advancing all the way to the consolation finals. Overall, LC Pioneers made a great showing at this year’s Fall ITA Tournament and there is much to look forward as the future holds for our women’s tennis team.