Ackerman Claims Second Place Singles Title at Cal Invite

Friday, September 24

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Cal Invite

Photo by: Owen Main

Ackerman Claims Second Place Singles Title at Cal Invite

9/27/2021 12:08:00 PM | Women's Tennis

BERKELEY, Calif. — Redshirt junior Emily Ackerman (pictured) claimed the second-place title for the ITA Gold Singles over the weekend to highlight the Cal Poly women's tennis team at their opening tournament of the fall season, the Cal Invite.

Ackerman started out as an eight seed, but fell just short of claiming the overall gold singles division title. She started with an easy advance over Michelle Zell from UC Davis due to an injury, but shortly after came in hot taking down Arizona State's Amber Lee 6-1, 6-1. The quarterfinals consisted of a classic Gaucho versus Mustang rivalry with Ackerman defeating Kira Reuter 5-7, 6-3, 7-5. In the semifinals, Ackerman proceeded to claim a win over Texas' Anastasia Goncharova 6-2, 2-6, 7-5. In the finals, Ackerman lost to Jordan Harris from Saint Mary's 2-6, 3-6, but left with her head held high having reached the finals of the ITA Gold Singles in the first event of the year.

Elsewhere, the dynamic duo of grad transfer Laura Bente and redshirt sophomore Melissa LaMette won the ITA Gold Doubles Consolation Title. Their path started in the round of 32, defeating a team from Pacific 6-0, 6-1. Still in the gold division, they took a tough loss to Camille Kliss and Marta Gonzales-Balibe from UCSB 1-1, 1-6 placing them in the consolation bracket. From there, the duo won the first round of the consolation bracket against UC Davis' Stavopolous and Zell 8-3. Advancing to the semifinals, they beat Sacramento State's Haver and Gordon 8-3. Finally, their journey to claim victory in the ITA Gold Doubles ended with a victory over Pacific's Una and Eberle 8-5.

Another Mustang doubles duo of Ackerman and redshirt junior Kim Bhunu had a solid showing in the ITA Blue Doubles Consolation bracket. Unfortunately, they started off by losing to UCSB's Honer and Khatamova 8-5. However, they picked themselves back up to defeat Santa Clara's Petty and Kalinik 8-1. They then went on to beat Saint Mary's' Harris and Hovda 8-5. The finals match was supposed to be against UC Davis, but both teams had an injury to a player so the match was not played.

The Mustangs will continue their fall season by traveling to the three-day Saint Mary's College Invite Oct. 1-3.