Women’s tennis competes at regionals

One member of the Edinboro women’s tennis team advanced to the round of 16 in this past weekend’s 2015 USTA/ITA Atlantic Region Championship in Erie.

That lone Scot was Julia Hellstern, but overall head coach Lee Underwood wanted more from his team.

“I don’t think we competed as well as I expected,” Underwood said in a phone interview Monday night. “I thought we need to be much more competitive. There were a lot of winnable matches and I didn’t think that we competed very well overall.”

Hellstern did shine during the three-day tournament as the sophomore won in straight sets in the first two rounds before falling 6-2, 6-3 to California (Pa.)’s Lena Dimmer in the Round of 16.

“I expected her to at least get that far,” Underwood said of the German’s performance in the tournament.

“She played pretty well. I thought she got a little bit better as the tournament progressed. I thought she was going for her shots a little bit more as the tournament progressed, which was nice to see.”

The next best Boro performances were turned in by a trio of Scots. Marija Tmusic, Roxana Yeh and Nevena Kulina all advanced to the second round before being eliminated.

In doubles, Anastasiya Dasik and Laura Lopez teamed up and won their first round match, but fell in the second round.

However it was another Fighting Scot who stuck out to Underwood.

“Roxana Yeh played real well in her wins,” he said. “In her losses, I don’t think she was as competitive as she could have been. I was pleased with the way she started in singles and doubles, in her winning matches, I thought she did really well there.”

Underwood also mentioned Sydney Rice who he said, “played as well as she [ever] has.”

Additionally, the tournament features a consolation bracket where multiple Scots competed.

Tatiana Batalla turned in the best Boro women’s singles finish in the consolation bracket. She advanced to the second round where she was ousted 8-2 by Ana Maria Pena of Charleston.

The Edinboro women return to action next on Oct. 3 when they visit PSAC Eastfoe East Stroudsburg at 3 p.m.

Tyler Trumbauer is the Sports Editor of The Spectator and can be reached at sports.spectator@gmail.com

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