The Ursinus College women's tennis team headed south to Fredericksburg, Virginia this past weekend to take part in the ITA South/Southeast Regional Championships, held on the campus of the University of Mary Washington.  The team was represented by seniors BreAnna Bashaw and Steph Seabra, junior Christine Palazzolo, and sophomores Ashley Nguyen, Aileen BeVard and Ariel Danziger.

It was a successful debut for the Bears, who finished last spring ranked #16 in the Atlantic South Region. Rain slightly shortened the event, but the skies cleared enough to get in lots of action over the two days.  While playing across multiple flights, the team was able to play in 21 matches total, winning 11 of them.

The weekend was highlighted by Palazzolo and Seabra, who caught fire in the B3 doubles flight, running the table en route to the flight championship.  After defeating teams from Elizabethtown, Randolph and Salisbury, the duo found themselves in the B3 Championship match against a team from conference rival Dickinson.  Palazzolo and Seabra put on a clinic in the title match, cruising to an 8-1 triumph over the Red Devil pair.  

There were other strong performances throughout the weekend as well.  After losing her opening round singles match in the B3 singles draw, sophomore Aileen BeVard won 2 matches in the backdraw, dropping only one game in the process.  In the B3 draw, senior BreAnna Bashaw won her first two contests in the main draw, but the event was cut short due to the rain.  In B5 singles, Palazzolo won her first round match against Caitlyn O'Connor from Elizabethtown, but fell in the quarterfinals to a player from Mary Washington.

In the B2 doubles draw, Bashaw and sophomore Ariel Danziger were defeated in their first round match, but rebounded nicely to conquer teams from Shenendoah and Juniata to make it the the finals of the backdraw.  The pair fell in that match to a team from Salisbury by an 8-6 score.

"I would say it was a very successful weekend for the girls," head coach Pete Smith said.  "A flight championship is a great accomplishment at the ITAs, and I am thrilled for Steph and Christine.  That is the best they have played so far this fall, and it came at just the right time.  This event really serves us well with a tough match coming up this week.  I know the team is very excited to get out in a dual match situation and see what we can do."

The Bears will head to defending CSAC champ Gwynedd Mercy on Tuesday for a 3:30 pm start.