BOURBONNAIS, Ill. – Rain tried to put a damper on the USTA/ITA Regional Tournament being hosted at Olivet Nazarene University on Friday, Sept. 21, but patience prevailed and things ran smoothly. Olivet who represents the top three singles seeds and three-of the-four top doubles seeds in the main draw pool, lost only one match on the day, when playing head-to-head.
No. 1 seed Aurelie Hascoet (Thann, France) easily advanced to the semi-final round defeating Roosevelt University’s Danielle Smith 6-0, 6-0 and Ana Mayagoita of Ashford University (AU), 6-1, 6-1. Aziza Botoyi (Burundi, Bujumbura), the two-time defending champion of the event and No. 2 seed, defeated Leah Fuessel of the University of St. Francis (USF) 6-1, 6-0 and will face Alicia Williams (AU) on Saturday morning.
Freshman Seraphine Buchmann (Illnau, Switzerland), the No. 3 seed, downed Jalyn Deering (AU) 6-4, 6-2 to advance to face Princess Clemente (USF). If Buchmann should win that match, she would face Hascoet in the semi-finals. Ashlan Allinson (Anderson, Ind.) defeated Sara Vach (AU) 7-5, 5-7, 1-0(4) to advance to play No. 4 seed Danielle Hoffman (USF).
In doubles, Hascoet and Buchmann teamed up as the No. 1 seed to defeat Ashley Golda and Ewelia Szwed (USF) 8-0 before facing Tiger teammates Cassie Brainard (Crawfordsville, Ind.) and Amy Brown (Hillsboro, Ind.). The Tiger duel ended up being the closest match the top seeds faced all day, finally prevailing 9-8(3). Hascoet/Buchmann will face No. 3 seed Anne-Christine Tompkins and Clemente (USF) in the semi-finals.
Butoyi paired up with Taylor Stephens (Ada, Mich.) to defeated Michelle Biceste and Shannon Mudro (USF) 8-0 and Deering/Williams (AU) 8-4 to advance to the semi-finals to face Olivet’s Allison and Tifanny Aguirre (Bogata, Columbia). Allsion/Aguirre reached the semi-finals by defeating Fueseel/Hoffman (USF) 8-6 and Montse Elizando and Andreina Guedez (AU) 8-0.
Tournament play resumes at 9 a.m. Saturday, with all matches being played at Snowbarger Park on the campus of Olivet.