MOUNT BERRY, Ga. – For the first time in program history, Azusa Pacific had a women's doubles team reach the NCAA Division II final of the ITA Cup with Madison Kane and Eleonora Liga, reaching the national championship match over the weekend at the annual tournament.
The ITA Cup is the fall season's individual national championship for all levels of intercollegiate tennis except NCAA Division I. Since there are no individual championships during the spring season, this fall tournament is the biggest individual tournament in NCAA Division II tennis. Kane and Liga along with Leyton Bohren in men's singles all received at-large bids to qualify for the tournament.
Kane and Liga reached the final of the NCAA Division II women's doubles draw without dropping a set. They opened the tournament with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Augustana on Thursday. The next day, they defeated Barry's No. 1 team, which had beaten the tournament's No. 2 seeds. Kane and Liga won 6-4, 6-4 to reach the semifinals.
Central Oklahoma knocked Azusa Pacific out of the NCAA tournament in the spring, and the Cougars got a chance to get some revenge in the semifinals against Blythe Buntrock and Nikki Boyar. That duo played No. 3 doubles in last year's NCAA Division II quarterfinals, clinching the doubles point with a 6-3 win. However, taking on Azusa Pacific's No. 1 doubles team was a different story with Kane and Liga winning easily, 6-1, 6-3.
In the final, Azusa Pacific ran into the No. 1 doubles team in the country from Nova Southeastern, which was coming off a win over the West Region champions from Hawai`i Pacific. Nova Southeastern won the final 6-1, 6-4 to win the NCAA Division II doubles title.
Liga also played in the singles draw where she earned the No. 4 seed. She opened the tournament with an impressive 6-1, 6-2 win over Ashley Penshorn from Saint Mary's. Her quarterfinal match was against Sofia Smagina from Washburn and the two had the most competitive of the four quarterfinal matches. Smagina won the first set in a tiebreaker 7-3, and Liga came back to win the next set in a tiebreaker by the same score. In the decisive third set, Smagina won 6-3 and went on to reach the final where she lost in a third set tiebreaker to the tournament's No. 1 seed.
Bohren faced a tough draw in men's singles, starting against the No. 1 seed Luca Mack from Valdosta State, who defeated the No. 1 player in the country last year, Alvaro Regalado from Columbus State. In the opening set, Bohren forced a tiebreaker, but Mack survived to take the first set 7-6(3) and then went on to win the next set 6-1. Mack eventually reached the final of the tournament, beating Point Loma's Alexander Leischner 6-4, 6-2 along the way.
