Oct. 13, 2013
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV senior Lucia Batta won her second career regional singles title at the 2013 USTA/ITA Mountain Region Championships Sunday at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on campus.
Batta, who also won this event three years ago as a freshman, downed fifth-seeded Michelle Okhremchuk of Nevada, Reno in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3, to improve to 10-1 this fall. It marked the fourth consecutive year that a Lady Rebel won the singles title here as Batta won as a freshman in 2010 and teammate Alesksandra Josifoska took the last two crowns.
With the victory, Batta earned a spot in the 2013 USTA/ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, which will take place November 7-10, at the indoor facilities at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, located in Flushing, N.Y. "This was another great day in the history of our program," head coach Kevin Cory said. "To win the regional singles champion four straight years is unheard of and a testimony to our girls and the type of program we have here. Lucia is as big a competitor that I have coached and I know she was eager to get back to the indoor nationals."
Earlier in the day, Batta and Josifoska nearly earned the doubles championship as well. The fourth-seeded duo upset second-seeded Veronica Popovic and Dorottya Jonas of Wyoming, 8-2, in the morning. Facing top-seeded and 18th-ranked Paige Miles and Michaela Berkova of Utah in the final, the UNLV duo held a 6-4 lead before seeing their opponents win the final four points to take it 8-6.
"We had a great showing reaching the final after beating the No. 2 seed," Cory said. "We were right where we wanted to be with the lead in the final but Utah showed they were very deserving of the top seed with the comeback."
Members from 19 western teams faced off as individuals this week on 12 courts each day in both singles and doubles. This was one of 24 USTA/ITA Regional Championships for NCAA Division I men and women taking place over these middle two weekends of October at campuses throughout the country.
ITA MOUNTAIN REGION WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS MAIN DRAW DOUBLES SEMIFINALS (SUN., OCT. 13)
#18 Miles/Berkova (1) (UU) def. Dominique Dulski/Natasha Smith (9-16) (UNM) 8-1
Lucia Batta/Aleskandra Josifoska (4) (UNLV) def. Veronica Popovici/Dorottya Jonas (2) (WYO) 8-2
DOUBLES FINAL (SUN., OCT. 13)
#18 Paige Miles/Michaela Berkova (1) (Utah) def Batta/Josifoska (4) (UNLV) 8-6
SINGLES FINAL (SUN., OCT. 13)
#41 Lucia Batta (2) (UNLV) def. Michelle Okhremchuk (5) (UNR) 7-5 6-3
