Agarycheva Reaches Semifinals at ITA Regional Championship

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

McMINNVILLE, ORE. -- Willamette University junior Natalia Agarycheva (Vancouver, WA/Prairie HS/Univ. of Northern Colorado) moved past four opponents in straight sets on Saturday, Oct. 3 and Sunday, Oct. 4 to advance to the semifinals of the Wilson/ITA Small College Northwest Regional Women's Tennis Championship, hosted by Linfield College.

Agarycheva, seeded #3, will play on Monday, Oct. 5 against the winner of the quarterfinal match between Cat Goya of Pacific University and Sallie Katter of Linfield. Katter is the #2 in the 64-player bracket. The championship singles match will be played later on Monday.

In her first round match, Agarycheva swept past Siri Carlson of Whitworth University, 6-1, 6-0. In the second round, she easily moved past Cara Wigen of Pacific Lutheran, 6-1, 6-0.

Agarycheva had to play WU teammate Katie Huber (Fr., St. Peter, MN/St. Peter HS) and won the match, 6-1, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, Agarycheva defeated Sophie Larson of Linfield, 6-1, 6-0.

Willamette's Shannon Palmer (So., Salem, OR/Sprague HS), seeded #6, was playing Abby Olbrich of Linfield, seeded #4, in the quarterfinals. The winner will meet the winner of the quarterfinal match between Rachel Burns of Whitworth and Alyssa Roberg of Whitman College.

Seven of the eight seeded players reached the quarterfinals. Burns is the top seed. Larson was the only unseeded player to survive the first three rounds. She defeated 8th-seeded Mya Towne of Whitworth, 6-3, 6-4, in the Round of 16.

Palmer defeated Jamaica King of Pacific in the opening round, 6-0, 6-0. She won a close match with Kiana Nip of Linfield in a super tie-breaker in the second round, 6-2, 5-7, 10-7. Palmer reached the quarterfinals by defeating Hadley DeBree of Whitman College, 7-5, 6-2, in the Round of 16.

In doubles action, three Willamette teams won first round matches. Agarycheva and Palmer downed Megan Wingfield and Claire Hemming of Whitworth, 8-2.

Huber and Alyssa Morrison (Sr., Anacortes, WA/Anacortes HS) slipped past Charlotte Scott and Amanda Alexander of Whitman, 9-7. Kate Thurber (Fr., Salem, OR/South Salem HS) and Fabi Dieguez (So., Salem, OR/Sprague HS/Oregon State Univ.) edged out Jessica Wilson and Heidi Weston of Pacific Lutheran University.