Ho leads women’s tennis to singles, doubles title matches

Isaac Jacobson | Contributing Reporter

After a weekend at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Central Regional at Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Mich., things are looking promising for senior Rebecca Ho, the tournament’s reigning doubles champion, and the rest of the Washington University women’s tennis team.

Ho and her doubles partner, senior Kaylan Griffith, together seeded first in the tournament, advanced to the final round, in which they will play the University of Chicago’s No. 9 Majorie Antohi and Estefania Navarro on Monday. Ho and Griffith face a challenge against the pair, as Antohi and Navarro blew through the competition, winning 40 games to their opponents’ 12 leading up to the finals. However, Ho and Griffith should be up to the task—they were just as impressive, dropping just 16 games of their own.

In singles, Ho’s performance was just as decisive. Seeded first individually, Ho advanced to the final round winning all six matches in straight sets. Prior to her 11 a.m. doubles final, Ho will face off with No. 9 Antohi for the singles championship at 9 a.m.

In the quarterfinal round, Ho managed to defeat Chicago’s No. 6 Rachel Kim, 6-1, 6-3. While the victory against Kim was notable, her match against Antohi could prove to be the most challenging match of the tournament for Wash. U. Antohi’s run to the final round was similarly impressive, including oustings of the No. 2 and No. 7 seeds.

Ho racked up 11 victories across singles and doubles over the course of the weekend to move into a tie for third on the all-time Wash. U. wins list with 145.

Unseeded freshman Sanjna Tripathy also had a successful weekend, winning twice to advance to the round of 32. She managed to defeat No. 17 Katrin Gurvich of Case Western Reserve University in lengthy third set, 11-9, after the two battled out the first two sets, 6-4, 4-6. She advanced an additional round with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 victory before dropping the next round to Augustana College’s No. 9 Lauren Goggin.

Wash. U.’s success in women’s tennis is well-documented, but this season looks more promising than ever, as both veterans and new additions have hit the ground running. Ho and Griffith have the opportunity to capitalize on a strong first tournament of the year with two championships and set the tone for singles and doubles success throughout the season.

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