Garcia Wins ITA Fall South Central Regional

SAN ANGELO, Texas – St. Mary's senior Maria Garcia had one of the best weeks of her stellar career, winning the finals of the Women's South Central ITA Fall Regional Championships. The remainder of the Rattlers squad competed extremely well with seniors Ashley Penshorn and Marina Vigil advancing to the quarterfinals in singles play. In doubles, three of the four StMU teams made it to the quarterfinals.
 
Garcia (Valencia, Spain) received a bye in the first round after earning the No. 3 seed for the tournament. She defeated Eva Schwartz (Angelo State) 6-3, 6-0 in the Round of 32, won a three-set match against Grace Gaskins 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and won in straight sets over Hannah Yip from Midwestern State 6-2, 6-4. In the semifinals, Garcia upset No. 2 seed Valentina Gonzalez Ramirez from Angelo State, 6-4, 6-4. In the finals, she defeated fourth-seeded Taylor Leslie in three sets, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4.
 
Penshorn (Montgomery, Texas), who entered the championship with the top-seed, advanced to the quarterfinals, falling to sixth-seeded Dianela Rodriguez from Angelo State 6-2, 6-4. She started the tournament with a 6-3, 6-2 victory against Adriana Carpenter from DBU in the Round of 32 after garnering a bye in the first round. In the Round of 16, Penshorn lost only two games, defeating Ramitha Irrinki 6-1, 6-1 from Angelo State setting up the match with Rodriguez.
 
Vigil (Gijon, Spain) was seeded ninth and won a hard-fought tiebreaker in set one and then cruised in set two, advancing with a 7-6 (10-8), 6-0 victory. She had an easier time with her second-round opponent, winning 6-3, 6-3 over Magda Wawroska from Cameron. In the Round of 16, Vigil upset fifth-seeded Anda Ghinga from Midwestern State, 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-5 before falling to Ramirez, 6-2, 6-1 who lost to Garcia in the semifinals. 
 
Senior Alice Thane (Elloughton, East Yorkshire, England) dropped her round of 64 match in straight sets to sixth-seeded Rodriguez, 6-1, 6-1. In the consolation draw, Thane only dropped one game, winning 6-1, 6-0 over Monica Cantu (UTPB) to advance to the quarterfinals, where she lost a 6-1, 6-4 decision to 10th-seeded Maya Donkor (Texas A&M-Kingsville).
 
Junior Gabi Ioannou (Melbourne, Australia) upset 15th-seeded Vasilisa Polunova (Cameron) in the round of 64, winning 7-5, 6-2. She dropped the next round to Alessa Maier from Texas A&M-Kingsville by almost identical scores, 6-4, 7-5.
 
Freshman Valerie Idalia Navarro-Cavazos lost to Chloe Chawner from UT-Tyler 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and dropped a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Ethne Dowling from Midwestern State in the backdraw.
 
Sophomore Elena Munoz (Corregidora, Queretaro, Mexico) was broken late in both sets against DBU's Madison Stafford, losing 7-5, 7-5 but pulled off an upset over 15th-seeded Karolina Glowinska from Cameron in the consolation first round, 6-4, 7-5. Munoz lost in the consolation round of 16 to Teodora Vrucan from UTPB 6-1, 7-6 (4).
 
Junior Angela Vargas (Del Rio, Texas) kept things going for the Rattlers with a straight-sets win over Lisa Guitton from Texas Permian Basin, 6-3, 6-2. She ran into 16th-seeded Caroline Hudson (DBU) in the second round, falling in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
 
In doubles, Garcia and Vargas defeated the team of Sydney Williams and Emilija Visic from Midwestern State 8-3 and proceeded to upset sixth-seeded Leony Deutschmann and Chawner from UT Tyler, 8-5 in the second round. In the quarterfinals, the pair lost 8-4 to top-seeded Gonzalez Ramirez and Ena Ovcina from Angelo State.
 
Penshorn and Vigil were seeded second and received a bye in the opening round, defeated Maya Donker and Noemi Sante (Texas A&M-Kingsville) in the second round, 8-6 and lost by an identical score in the quarterfinals to Ayda Guler and Irrinki from Angelo State.
 
Ioannou and Thane were upset by Sanne Janssen and Grace Gaskins from DBU in the round of 32, 8-5. The pair received a win in the first round of the consolation due to injury. In the quarterfinals the duo lost to fourth-seeded Kyndall Quiroz and Anda Ghinga from Midwestern State, 8-3.
 
Navarro-Cavazos and Munoz defeated the UTPB squad of Lea Mjertan and Teodora Vrucan 8-2 and then fell to eighth-seeded Polunova and Glowinska from Cameron in the round of 16.