Day one of the 2011 USTA/ITA Midwest Regional Championships is in the books. All eight of the top seeds in the tournament advanced to the round of 16 in the singles bracket.
Advancing to the round of 16 in singles after picking up a pair of victories for the Gustavus women’s tennis team was Alex Erickson, Laurel Krebsbach, and Megan Gaard. Erickson picked up wins over Megan Kasten of UW-Whitewater (6-0, 6-2) and Toby Cain of Grinnell (6-3, 6-1), Krebsbach defeated Edgewood’s Laura Olsen (6-0, 6-0) and UW-Whitewater’s Annie Smith (6-2, 6-1), and Gaard topped Taylor Storbakken of Edgwood (6-0, 6-0), and Mara Weiner (6-3, 6-0) to advance to Saturday.
Six of the eight top-seeded doubles teams advanced to the round of eight in day one. Fifth seeded Caitlin Harper and Christine Muller of St. Olaf fell 8-3 to Coe’s Jackie Pedersen and Sara Ohlman, and seventh seed Lawrence’s Beth Larson and Jennifer Roesch fell to UW-Whitewater’s Annie Smith and Sydney Divelbiss 8-5.
The pair of Megan Gaard and Alex Erickson was the only Gustavus doubles team to advance to the quarterfinals. Gaard and Erickson defeated Grinnell’s Constanza Alarcon and Clothilde Thirouin 8-0 in the first round, and UW-La Crosse’s Olivia Hartwick and Andrea Vivian in the second round.
The USTA/ITA Midwest Regional will begin with singles play at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 24.