By: Kate Bodiker
GOSHEN, Ind. - Men's and women's tennis had huge success across the board at the ITA Central East Regional Tournament. Goshen had representatives in three out of the fours finals, and finished in second in men's singles, women's singles, and women's doubles.
Women
For the women, they had great success in the double bracket, with a Maple Leaf team in three out of the four quarter final matches. Uliana Dotsenko and Marin Kawano won their match 9-7, and Vishmi Serasinghe and Sara Nino won 8-5. Blanka Bodo and Maria Clara Fonte were having a great run, but were forced to retire in the quarterfinals match due to injury.
Dotsenko and Kawano put up a good fight in the semifinal, but ended up falling 9-7 to the team from Bethel that won it all. Nino and Serasinghe won their semi 8-4, before eventually falling 6-4, 6-1 to the team from Bethel, making them the women's doubles runners-up.
In singles, the Leafs once again had a lot of success, with three GC players making the quarterfinals — though Nino and Dotsenko were facing each other in their matchup. Dotsenko came out on top, only to immediately begin playing her other teammate Bodo, who won in her quarterfinal match as well. Dotsenko came out on top again as Bodo retired due to injury after the first set.
The battle for the win was a tough one, with Dotsenko coming out with a win in the first set 6-4, but just couldn't quite hold on as Holy Cross's Nicole Martinez won the next two sets 6-2, 6-2.
Men
On the men's side of the bracket, Iago Ciucio and Garrett Stoltzfus advanced to the semifinals in doubles, losing 8-6 to the team from Missouri Baptist that went on to win it all. In men's singles, there were Leafs in three of the four quarterfinal games, in Stoltzfus, Ciucio, and Denis Stanculov. Timo Novak was eliminated in the round of 16 after falling to Stoltzfus in their matchup.
From there, Ciucio advanced through the semifinals as well, finally earning the position of runner-up after falling to Holy Cross's Oscar Wai 6-2, 6-4 — the pair was having a rematch of their battle from the same tournament last year, where they met in the final as well.
Though there is no team score for the tournament, the Leafs performed well across the board, picking up more wins than the previous year and nabbing three runner-up trophies for Goshen this year.
The Maple Leafs are back in action from Friday-Sunday, Oct. 2-4. They will travel to Lebanon, IL to take on McKendree University in the three day event.