COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The University of New Mexico women’s tennis team stayed on track at the Bedford Cup in Colorado Springs, going 5-3 in singles and advancing four players into the semifinals, two each in the Alpha bracket, and two in the Bravo bracket. The four semifinalists are on opposite sides, meaning a semifinal sweep would set up a Lobo vs. Lobo showdown for the title in each of the two brackets.
Overall, UNM is now 18-5 in singles in the tournament. Friday also saw the Bedford Cup doubles competition start, and the Lobos also advanced two teams in to the semifinals, one in each bracket.
In singles, Bronte Murgett and Danielle Quevedo both advanced into the semifinals. Murgett took care of Colorado State’s Priscilla Palermo 6-4, 6-4 and now will face Northern Arizona’s Chiarra Tomasetti in one semifinal. Quevedo needed an opening set tiebreaker but then cruised to a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 win over Ashleigh Harvey of Air Force, and she will now face Harvey’s teammate T.J. Fumagalli. Fumagalli ended UNM’s Alisia Manolescu’s title dreams, winning 7-5, 6-1.
In the Bravo bracket, Yue Lin “Polly” Chen defeated Alex Kuo 7-5, 4-6 , 6-1 in a long match, moving her into the semifinals against Wyoming’s Mihaela Kaftanova. Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang continued her roll, winning easily 6-1, 6-4 over Air Force’s Mebeli Becerra. Huang will face off with Mimi Bland of Northern Arizona. Bland defeated Natasha Munday 6-3, 6-4, ending Munday’s title shot. Both Munday and Manolescu will play in the backdraw for a shot at fifth place.
In the alpha singles backdraw, Myu Kageyama won over CSU’s Alyssa Grijalva 6-3, 6-4 while Sara Kuuttila-Webbert lost in a marathon 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 10-4 against Emily Luetschwager.
In doubles, Murgett and Munday won twice to advance to the semifinals. In the round of 16 they topped Mirte Van Baelen and Daphne Haverkamp of Montana State 8-3, and then they defeated NAU’s Tomasetti and Ellie Millard 8-5. In UNM’s other doubles team in the alpha draw, Kuttilla-Webbert and Quevedo lost to Adrianna Sosnowska and Emilie Haakansson of Northern Arizona) 8-7 (8-6). They bounced back with an 8-3 win over Madison Wolfe and Synclair Larsen of Northern Colorado.
In the bravo bracket, both UNM teams had byes into the quarterfinals. Manolescu and Huang then advanced into the semifinals with an 8-2 win over Alexandra Ngo/ and Tascon Dois of Southern Utah while Chen and Kageyama lost in a tiebreaker 8-7 (8-5) to Riley Reeves and Anastasiia Kotsyuba of Colorado State.
Day Two Results
Alpha Singles Quarterfinals
Bronte Murgett def. Priscilla Palermo (Colorado State) 6-4, 6-4
T.J. Fumagalli (Air Force) def. Alisia Manolescu 7-5, 6-1
Danielle Quevedo def. Ashleigh Harvey (Air Force) 7-6, (7-3), 6-1
Alpha Singles Backdraw
Myu Kageyama def. Alyssa Grijalva (Colorado State) 6-3, 6-4
Emily Luetschwager (Colorado State) def. Sara Kuuttila-Webbert 6-4, 6-7 (3-7), 10-4
Bravo Singles Quarterfinals
Yue Lin “Polly” Chen def. Alex Kuo (Air Force) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
Mimi Bland (Northern Arizona) def. Natasha Munday 6-3, 6-4
Hsiang-Wen “Albie” Huang def. Mebeli Becerra (Air Force) 6-1, 6-4
Alpha Doubles Round of 16
Adrianna Sosnowska/Emilie Haakansson (Northern Arizona) def. Kuttilla-Webbert/Quevedo 8-7 (8-6)
Murgett/Munday def. Mirte Van Baelen/Daphne Haverkamp (Montana State) 8-3
Alpha Doubles Quarterfinals
Murgett/Munday def. Chiarra Tomesetti/Ellie Millard (Northern Arizona) 8-5
Alpha Doubles Backdraw Quarterfinals
Kuuttila-Webbert/Quevedo def. Madison Wolfe/Synclair Larsen (Northern Colorado) 8-3
Bravo Doubles Round of 16
Manolescu/Huang bye into quarterfinals
Chen/Kageyama bye into quarterfinals
Alpha Doubles Quarterfinals
Manolescu/Huang def. Alexandra Ngo/Tascon Dois (Southern Utah) 8-2
Riley Reeves/Anastasiia Kotsyuba (Colorado State) def. Chen/Kageyama 8-7 (8-5)