Hofbauer And Ruiz Close Competition At ITA All-Americans

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East Carolina University

ITA All-American Championships

Hofbauer And Ruiz Close Competition At ITA All-Americans

October 04, 2018 | Women's Tennis

PACIFIC PALISADES, CALIF. – Playing against some of the best competition in the country, the ECU women's tennis team picked up a win in both singles and doubles play at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.

"It was not the result that we would like to have, but it's a tribute to where we are and where we're going that we are playing some of the best programs in the nation and we are very disappointed with losses," said head coach Tom Morris. "A few years ago, we would have been happy just to have played against them. Now you look at the draw sheet in doubles and we're the top-seeded duo and we have teams like Oklahoma State, UCLA and Florida behind us. We lost to Florida State, which was an upset, because we were ranked higher and seeded higher, but this shows the hard work by Celia and Lisa over the last year to earn this high of a national ranking!

In her first tournament of the fall, Celia Ruiz competed in both singles and doubles matches for the Pirates. In singles, the Pontevedra, Spain native went 1-2 in the qualifying, with all three matches against opponents ranked in the top 90 of the International Tennis Association's (ITA) rankings. In her first match, Ruiz took on California's No. 29 Anna Bright and fell 6-1, 6-4.

In the consolation draw, Ruiz bounced back with a win, beating Illinois' 69th-ranked Mia Rabinowitz 6-2, 6-4. Ruiz's tournament came to an end in the next round when she was forced to retire against St. John's 89th-ranked Jessica Livianu.

In doubles play, Ruiz and Lisa Hofbauer were placed as the top seed in the pre-qualifying draw. The Pirate duo, currently ranked No. 42 in the ITA doubles poll, opened the draw with an 8-4 win over Boise State's Wilhelmina Palmer and Lilian Pollin. With a chance to move onto the qualifying draw, ECU's tandem was upset by Florida State's Ariana Rahmanparast and Nandini Das 8-2.

The Pirates will have a few weeks to prepare for their next tournament, the ITA Carolina Regional Championships. The Regionals are scheduled to start on Oct. 18 in Chapel Hill, N.C., and will be hosted by North Carolina.