Wayne State University Athletics

Manuela Davies/USTA

Malak Arafat won two matches in singles on Saturday, both in straight sets.

Women's Tennis 9/17/2023 1:40:00 AM Matthew Jurek, Sports Information Graduate Assistant

Women's Tennis Completes Day One at ITA Midwest Regional

The Warriors played several matches across singles and doubles on Saturday.

GREENWOOD, Ind. -- The Wayne State University women's tennis team completed day one of action at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament on Saturday.

This year's event is being hosted by the University of Indianapolis. Matches are primarily being played at the tennis courts of Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind. The tournament is one of the ITA's 63 Small College Regional Championships and brings together athletes from the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC), Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC), and Great Midwest Athletic Conference (GMAC).

The Green and Gold had seven athletes play in matches across singles and doubles on day one, with plenty of tennis being contested after the tournament started at 8 a.m. on Saturday.

DOUBLES
WSU's three doubles teams all participated in Flight A, which consisted of 32 pairings and 16 matches in the opening round. Last season's No. 6-ranked duo of Anais Ruyssen (Nantes, France) and Marta Komar (Inowroclaw, Poland) were the lone tandem to notch a victory in doubles on Saturday. The redshirt juniors blanked Antanina Novik and Maria Fernanda De La Torre of Drury University, 6-0.

Ruyssen and Komar will battle Walsh's Aleksandra Chmir and Olesya Ivashchuk on Sunday at 8 a.m. for the Round of 16.

Falling 6-4 in their first round match were Martyna Szpakowska (Gdansk, Poland) and Justine Beaulieu (Montreal, Que.). They were defeated by Estefania Hernandez and Rachel Sam from Grand Valley State. Malak Arafat (Alexandria, Egypt) and Dea Gorgidze (Tbilisi, Georgia) dropped a 6-3 decision to the Rockhurst University team of Sofia Valdespino and Marina Magai.

The two Warrior duos will next head to the consolation bracket, where they both will duel ranked pairings from the spring. Szpakowska and Beaulieu draw Davenport's Amy Bloch and Willemien Coetzee, the No. 12-ranked doubles tandem after last season. That match will begin at 8 a.m. Arafat and Gorgidze are slated to face the No. 10-ranked Vasileia Griva and Taylor Barrett from Grand Valley State at 8:45 a.m.

SINGLES
The Round of 64 and Round of 32 in singles play was finished on day one. Out of the five Warriors to begin in Flight A, one remains in contention for the overall crown after the first two rounds. Malak Arafat will play in the Round of 16 after posting victories over Emily Hadler and Sarah Roy. The sophomore had a 6-4, 6-3 win over her Findlay opponent, while finishing a two-set triumph vs. her Tiffin competitor, which featured a first set tiebreaker (7-6 (7-5), 6-4).

Arafat will face Sofia Valdespino on Sunday at 10 a.m. for an opportunity to advance to the quarterfinals.

Despite dropping the opening set, Komar won her first round battle with Rachel Sam in a tight affair. She triumphed, 4-6, 6-3, 10-4. The redshirt junior dropped out of the second round and the competition with an injury, giving the win to Walsh's Shantala Uzcategui.

In her opening match of singles play, Shanice Weekes (London, England) also posted a victory. She handled Elsa Pascual of Southwest Baptist, 6-0, 6-3. However, the second-year player lost matching 6-2 set decisions to Valentine Colin of Indianapolis in round two.

The other two WSU players lost in round one and played in the consolation bracket. Ruyssen, the No. 33-ranked singles player after last season, played close with Anamarija Kovacevic, but a long-lasting tiebreaker went the way of the Findlay player, 12-10. The final match score was 5-7, 6-4, 10-12. The redshirt junior played in a consolation match and defeated Steffi Lao of Quincy University, 6-3, 6-1. She will next face Purdue Northwest's Oona Kintscher at 10 a.m. on Sunday in another consolation battle.

Szpakowska lost 6-2, 6-1 to Diane Flament of Indianapolis in the main bracket, then dropped a heartbreaking 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 7-10 affair to Quincy's Blanca Salas Cruz in the consolation bracket.

Over in Flight B, which was held at nearby Clark Pleasant Middle School, Gorgidze recorded a 6-3, 6-1 victory against Rockhurst's Andrea Dabbah. She will play Johanna Michahelles of Saginaw Valley State in her next contest.

The freshman Beaulieu was also a winner in a 6-3, 0-6, 10-8 thriller vs. Tiffin's Celine Ferron. She is slated to face Alma Regina Vazquez Rioja from PNW in the next match.

According to the ITA, the Small College Regional Championships serve as a direct qualifier for the ITA Cup, a national championship held annually for the Division II, Division III, NAIA, and Junior College levels.

Matches will continue at the ITA Midwest Regional Tournament for the next two days.

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Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Justine Beaulieu: 5' 4"; Freshman

Dea Gorgidze: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

Marta Komar: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Martyna Szpakowska: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Shanice Weekes: 5' 4"; Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Malak Arafat
: 5' 11"; Sophomore

Justine Beaulieu
: 5' 4"; Freshman

Dea Gorgidze
: 5' 7"; Redshirt Sophomore

Marta Komar
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Anais Ruyssen
: 5' 9"; Redshirt Junior

Martyna Szpakowska
: 5' 8"; Sophomore

Shanice Weekes
: 5' 4"; Sophomore