OGDEN, Utah – Idaho State women's tennis was represented by Emmy Richards and Veronika Zarovna at the Big Sky Individual Championships this weekend, with the Bengal duo putting together a strong showing at the conference tournament hosted by Weber State.
Richards and Zarovna were selected as Idaho State's two representatives at the championships, with both Bengals competing in singles before joining forces in doubles. The weekend was highlighted by a run to the doubles championship match, while Richards added a run of her own to the singles semifinals.
Richards finished the tournament with two singles victories, both coming in three-set comeback fashion, while the Bengal tandem of Richards and Zarovna won its first two doubles matches to advance to the championship.
Doubles
Richards and Zarovna opened the tournament Friday morning against Eastern Washington's Zoe Pradel and Olivia Marais in the doubles quarterfinals.
The Bengal pair controlled the match on their way to an 8-4 victory, earning a spot in Saturday's semifinals.
Waiting in the semifinals were Portland State's Marta Giglio and Hana Abdelhamid. In one of the closest matches of the weekend, neither pairing was able to create separation, sending the match into a tiebreak.
Richards and Zarovna came through when it mattered, winning the tiebreak to capture an 8-7 (9-7) victory and punch their ticket to the doubles championship match.
The Bengals faced Northern Arizona's Natalie Rainke and Madelynn Ludwig in the final. Richards and Zarovna's run ultimately came to an end with a 4-8 loss, giving the Idaho State duo a runner-up finish at the Big Sky Individual Championships.
Singles
Richards also put together an impressive run through the singles bracket, advancing from the Round of 32 all the way to the semifinals.
The sophomore opened against Montana State's Lola Bean and found herself facing an early deficit after dropping the first set, 5-7.
Richards responded emphatically. She took the second set, 6-2, before carrying that momentum into the deciding third set. Richards closed out the comeback with a 6-3 win to defeat Bean, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, and move into the quarterfinals.
Another comeback was waiting for Richards in the next round.
Facing Eastern Washington's Zoe Pradel, Richards dropped the opening set, 1-6. Once again, the Bengal sophomore answered. Richards evened the match with a 6-3 second-set victory before taking the deciding set by the same score, completing her second consecutive comeback with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory.
The win sent Richards into the singles semifinals, where she faced Idaho's Yu-Ching Hsieh. Richards' singles run came to an end with a 3-6, 0-6 loss, closing a weekend that saw her reach the final four of the conference singles bracket.
Zarovna drew Idaho's Naomi Schraeder in the Round of 16. The opening set went all the way to a tiebreak before Schraeder edged Zarovna. The Bengal junior ultimately fell 6-7 (4-7), 1-6.
"I am really happy with our results this weekend", shared Bengals' head coach, Gretchen Maloney. "In doubles the girls played really gritty and figured out a way to win. The final match was tough and we just didn't play quite clean enough today.
In singles, Emmy had to battle and come back once sat down in both matches to get to the semi's for determination was impressive.
Emmy had to be really diverse and both of her singles matches and had to figure out a game plan and then execute it, and she did it very well."
Up Next
Idaho State now turns their sights to the ITA Mountain Regionals, which will run from Tuesday, Oct. 13th through Friday, Oct. 16th in Provo, Utah, hosted by BYU.
