The 2021 fall seasons came to their respective ends this past weekend for Penn men’s and women’s tennis.
For the women, senior Iuliia Bryzgalova of Moscow and graduate student Marija Curnic of Split, Croatia competed as a doubles pair in the Oracle ITA Fall National Championships at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. The duo fell in their first match 7-6(5), 7-6(3), coming just short against USC's senior Salma Ewing and redshirt freshman Snow Han.
The loss moved Bryzgalova and Curnic to the consolation bracket of the tournament, where they advanced to the quarterfinals after their opponents — University of Central Oklahoma's sophomore Mae Canete and freshman Christine Canete — withdrew due to injury. They then defeated University of Mississippi junior Kelsey Mize and freshman Ludmila Kareisová, dropping the first set 7-5, but coming back to win the second 6-4 and the tiebreaker 10-7.
The trend reversed itself in the semifinals, with the Quakers falling to University of Virginia's sophomore Hibah Shaikh and freshman Melodie Collard after taking the first set 6-2. The second set went to the Cavaliers in a tiebreaker, 7-6(2), as did the tiebreaker itself, 10-6.
The men’s tennis team took part in the Liberty Fall Hidden Duals at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. They competed against the host school, as well as Pennsylvania State University and Old Dominion University, over the course of three days over the weekend. As a whole, the Quakers defeated the Monarchs of Old Dominion in five out of 10 matches on Friday, took down the Flames of Liberty in four out of 12 matches on Saturday, and bested the Nittany Lions of Penn State in six out of 13 matches on Sunday.
Junior Edoardo Graziani was the star of the show for the Red and Blue, winning five of his six matches, only dropping a doubles match against Liberty alongside fellow junior Kevin Zhu. Graziani’s singles matches were dominant, resulting in a 3-0 record without losing a single set to any of ODU sophomore Younes Lalami, Liberty junior Josh Wilson, or Penn State junior Chikaya Sato.
Senior Jason Hildebrandt won three of his six matches, including two singles matches, while fellow senior Jonah Jurick also took two singles matches.
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