MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Ena Babic kept the Purdue women's tennis team in the hunt for a regional title on Friday with a pair of wins in the main singles draw of the ITA Ohio Valley Regional on the campus of Middle Tennessee State.
Babic needed three sets to take her first match of the weekend. After a bye in the first round, the No. 5 seed rallied to beat Danielle Morris of Appalachian State, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0. In the afternoon, the junior coolly handled No. 17-seeded Ana Tkachenko from Kentucky, 6-2, 6-4. Babic will play in the quarterfinals on Saturday against Brindtha Ramasamy.
The doubles tandem of Seira Shimizu and Nikol Dobrilova fell just shy of a quarter finals appearance in the main draw. The new pairing fell in a tiebreak to Emily Thomas and Ahmeir Kyle from Xavier, the No. 4 seed, 8-7(4).
On Saturday, five Boilermakers will compete in the singles consolation draw, while a pair of doubles teams will feature in the back draw of the double event.
PURDUE MATCHES ON FRIDAY
No. 7 Dasha Kourkina (Vanderbilt) def. Nathalia Wolf Gasparin – 6-2, 6-1
Zanie Barnard (MTSU) def. Csilla Fodor – 6-2, 6-3
No. 9 Raven Neely (Louisville) def. Zala Dovnik – 6-4, 6-4
No. 5 Ena Babic def. Danielle Morris (APSU) – 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
No. 5 Ena Babic def. No. 17 Ana Tkachenko (Kentucky) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 9 Ariadna Riley (Tennessee) def. Seira Shimizu – 6-1, 6-2
No. 9 Aran Teixido-Garcia (Memphis) def. Alex Sabe – 6-7(8), 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 Kyle/Thomas (Xavier) def. Shimizu/Dobrilova – 8-7(4)