Cyclone Tennis Heads To Gopher Invitational

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State tennis team returns to action this weekend as it heads to the Gopher Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tournament, which begins Thursday and runs through Sunday, will be held at the Baseline Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Minnesota.

Play begins Thursday with doubles play, with two matches for each doubles team. For the remainder of the tournament, teams will play two rounds of doubles play followed by singles action daily.

The entire Cyclone roster, with the exception of an injured Claudia Toledo, will be competing this weekend.

Iowa State opened the fall season last weekend at a pair of tournaments. Senior Sami Budai fell to her opponent in the first round of the Bush's $50,000 Waco Showdown Wildcard tournament, while the Cyclones sent a number of other players to the Drake Invitational.

Newcomers Karen Alvarez and Erin Freeman, along with redshirt sophomore Liera Bender represented Iowa State in Des Moines. Bender and Freeman won a pair of doubles matches before falling in the semifinals of their bracket.

In singles matches, Freeman advanced to the semis and finished 2-1 on the weekend.

Gopher Invitational
Doubles – Starts Thursday
Flight A – First Round
Sami Budai/Maty Cancini vs. Tina Kreinis/AnneMarie Emme (Minnesota)
Annabella Bonadonna/Karen Alvarez vs. Barbora Kollarova/Nanette Nylund (South Dakota)
Flight B – First Round
Rita Timakova/Regina Espindola vs. Merle Vagt/Maria Pandya (South Dakota)

Singles – Starts Friday
Flight A – First Round
Sami Budai vs. Maja Vujic (Minnesota)
Flight B – First Round
Regina Espindola vs. Gaelle Rey (San Jose State)
Maty Cancini vs. Molly Crum (South Dakota State)
Flight C – First Round
Rita Timakova vs. Adorabol Huckleby (Iowa)
Annabella Bonadonna vs. Janelle Wilson (Omaha)
Flight D – First Round
Liera Bender vs. Nanette Nylund (South Dakota)
Erin Freeman vs. Anastasia Bondarenko (South Dakota)
Flight E – First Round
Natalie Phippen vs. Alex Revenig (North Dakota)
Karen Alvarez vs. Sydney Wolfe (Northern Iowa)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Karen Alvarez

Liera Bender

Annabella Bonadonna

Maty Cancini

Regina Espindola

Erin Freeman

Natalie Phippen

Claudia Toledo

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Iowa State University Athletics