Augustana University Athletics

WOMEN'S SINGLES | WOMEN'S DOUBLES | MEN'S SINGLES | MEN'S DOUBLES

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Katie Jesperson and Jessa Richards each won a pair of matches and advanced to the round of 16 at the USTA/ITA Central Region Championships on Friday to highlight the Vikings' trip south. The two women's doubles pairs also won their first round match and Jesperson and Richards advanced to the quarterfinals with two wins doubles.

Jesperson earned the No. 3 overall seed after finishing the spring season as the second-ranked singles player. The senior from Elk River, Minn. dispatched her first opponent in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2. Punching her ticket to the round of 16, Jesperson won 6-2, 6-2 and will face ninth-seeded Houda Bellamine of Northeastern State tomorrow for trip to the quarterfinals.

Richards finished the spring season with the No. 19 ranking in the Central Region, but didn't earn one of the top 16 seeds in the fall championships. Richards coasted in her first-round match with a 6-1, 6-1 win pitting her against No. 11 seed, Jeanne Mallem of Northeastern State.

Richards won the first set of the second round in a tiebreak before finishing off her seeded opponent with set scores of 7-6, 6-1. Richards will face the sixth seed, Olga Leyshyna of Arkansas Tech, in tomorrow's round of 16.

Richards slides in as Jesperson's doubles partner this season to make up the top pairing for the Vikings and they didn't disappoint in their debut on the national scale. The two won an 8-5 match over Harding's Rowden-Huey duo. Augustana's top tandem moved onto the quarterfinals with an 8-0 win over Nebraska-Kearney's Norfolk and Emery.

Liz Lewis and Christine Olivo weren't as fortunate in their singles matches as they both fell in straight sets to Northeastern State seeded players.  Lewis fell 6-3, 6-1 at the hands of 12th seed Martina Bruzikova in the first round and Olivo's singles tournament was ended by seventh seed Kristina Savchenkov.

Lewis and Olivo teamed up in the doubles tournament and advanced to the second round with an 8-3 win over Washburn's tandem of Holle and O'Neill. In the round of 16, Lewis and Olivo's run came to an end with an 8-3 loss to Arkansas Tech's Matsuoka and Sanchez. 

Augustana also sent Jared Hofer and Collin Noldner to Springfield, but neither were able to make it out of the first round in the highly competitive Central Region. Hofer earned the No. 16 seed, but fell 6-3, 6-3 in his first round match.  Noldner was shut out in his loss to Southwest Baptist's Guido Margiotta. Hofer and Noldner hung around in their doubles match, but were eventually put away by the SBU pairing of Margiotta and Daniel Cardona.

Play resumes tomorrow in Springfield as Richards and Jesperson try to move on in both singles and doubles.