ST. PETER, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's tennis team got the fall portion of its season underway by competing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Midwest Regional Championships and Midwest Invite, hosted by Gustavus Adolphus College on Friday and Saturday.

Junior Alexandra Berns, senior Fiona O'Flaherty, senior Jane Spading, and senior Olha Zubarieva represented St. Olaf in the ITA singles and doubles draws, while eight Oles were in action in the draws of the Midwest Invite. All four Oles won at least one match in both singles and doubles in the ITA tournament.

In the ITA singles draw, Zubarieva made the deepest run of the weekend for St. Olaf by reaching the round of 32. As one of the seeds, the senior earned a bye in the opening round before topping Abby Ostermann of Luther College by a 6-3, 6-1 score in the round of 64. Zubarieva then fell to Noor Omar of Gustavus in the round of 32 by a 6-3, 6-4 margin.

Spading, Berns, and O'Flaherty all won their opening-round matches before falling in straight sets in the second round. Berns posted a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Alexis Budzinski of UW-River Falls, Spading claimed a 7-6 (3), 6-0 win against Andreina Tejada of UW-Superior, and O'Flaherty came back from a set down to grab a 1-6, 6-3, 10-6 victory against Alex Repplier of UW-Whitewater.

In doubles, Zubarieva and Spading made their way into the round of 16 with a pair of victories before falling to the third-seeded pairing of Kaya De Bruijn and Karina Elvestrom of Gustavus. The pair started the tournament with an 8-3 victory over Savannah Haugen and Elizabeth Trevathan of Macalester College before downing Abby Weaver and Ava Andrae of UW-Whitewater by an 8-5 score.

O'Flaherty and Berns picked up an 8-3 win over Alli Hagness and Addison Leasure of Coe College before coming up against the second-seeded duo of Molly Austin and Allison Szalay of Gustavus in the second round.

Senior Sarah Clark recorded St. Olaf's best run in the singles draws of the Midwest Invite by winning a pair of matches to advance to the semifinals of her draw, while sophomores Mads Hockmuth and Charlotte Sloane won two matches in their doubles draw to qualify for the semifinals.

The Oles will host Concordia-Moorhead in their first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) match of the season on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 12 p.m. at Carlson Courts.