TULSA, Okla. (October 10, 2019) – Northern Arizona women's tennis senior
Chiara Tomasetti dropped a pair of matches to opponents from Power Five schools to end her run at the Saint Francis Health System ITA All-American Championships on Thursday. Although Tomasetti came up empty in the win column, she did notch an impressive showing against one of the country's top players in her opening match of the tournament.
Across the net from the tournament's No. 2 overall seed, Tomasetti did not back down on Thursday. In the first round of the main draw, Tomasetti pushed North Carolina's Makenna Jones to not one, but two tiebreakers in a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) loss.
"Tournaments at this level can show us where we're are at and we saw Chiara playing two tiebreaks against the No. 3 player in the country," said head coach
Ewa Bogusz. "That says a lot about her performance. It was a very high level match. Jones knew what to do in tight moments, but I know Chiara can see how close she was."
Tomasetti, ranked No. 71 nationally, played Jones extremely tough with the three-time All-American needing every point to avoid the first round upset. Jones, the third-ranked player in the country, was the highest-ranked player Tomasetti has faced in her collegiate career as a Lumberjack.
With the loss, Tomasetti moved into the consolation draw where she matched up against Oklahoma State's Ayumi Miyamoto on Friday. Due to rain in Tulsa, the match was moved to Stillwater, Okla. – the home of Oklahoma State – where Tomasetti fell to Miyamoto, 6-4, 6-2.
"She wasn't able to pull through the consolation match and there were a few elements missing to her game which would help to make the difference," Bogusz said. "The good thing is we can take that to practice, work on it and come back stronger."
Tomasetti and the rest of her Lumberjack teammates will now gear up for the ITA Mountain Regional Championships starting Oct. 23 in Las Vegas, Nev. Tomasetti will look to defend her regional singles title after becoming the first Northern Arizona women's tennis player to win the regional championship last season.
