FLUSHING, N.Y. - - The Wilmington University women's tennis team began its 2019 season on the same grounds where Rafael Nadal and Bianca Andreescu were recently crowned US Open Champions, competing in the 2019 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) East Regional Championships at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center over the weekend.
Senior Andrea Ribalta led the Wildcats at the individual style tournament, advancing through the qualifying bracket and winning one match in the main draw. Seeded No. 27, Ribalta defeated Chestnut Hill's Carlotta Garcia, 8-3, in a super set to move along in the qualifying bracket. She then defeated Caldwell's Janis Jimenez, 8-5, in a superset to advance to the main draw.
In the main draw, Ribalta ran into Molloy's Montaine Le Goupil Maier and defeated her, 6-1 and 6-3. But her run stopped there as she faced 13th seeded Maia Makal from Queens and lost, 6-2 and 6-1.
Ribalta also teamed up with Laura Gil for the doubles draw, as the duo was seeded second among the 63 entries. But they were unable to overcome a partner group from Concordia in the first round, falling, 9-8 (13-11), in a tiebreaker.
Sabrina Blasi-Smith and Mallory Nolte also teamed up for the doubles draw, falling in the first round to UScience's duo of Karla Militec and Myra Anwar, 8-3. Blasi-Smith dropped her first qualifying singles match as well, falling to Stonehill's Steffi Antao. Nolte also fell in the first round of qualifying, losing to New Haven's Stephanie Gonzalez.
The Wildcats begin team competition next weekend, as they head to Post to start Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference competition. The first serve is scheduled for Saturday at 1:00 p.m.
