Image courtesy of Nevada Athletics. Anastaysha Gorbacheva practices at Nevada during a Sept. afternoon. Gorbacheva competed in the ITA Mountain Regionals over the weekend, advancing to the final round before having to withdraw due to non-injury related issues.

The women’s tennis team traveled down south to Las Vegas for a chance to compete in the ITA Mountain Regional. The Tournament started on Oct. 23 and was held at the Fertitta Tennis Complex in Las Vegas. Nevada’s Anastaysha Gorbacheva advanced all the way to the final day of play, but had to withdraw from the tournament due to a non-injury related issue. 

Oct. 23: Opening day

The Wolf Pack started off the tournament strong, as they split their 12 matches on opening day. Nevada went 4-4 in singles play and 2-2 in doubles, thanks in part to single competitor, Anastasia Luneva. The freshman from Moscow won her round of 64 match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Zara Ryan of Utah State. 

Gorbacheva edged out Mae McCutcheon of Boise State to advance to day two.

Despite falling to Julia Rooney and Lauren Dunlap of Montana, the duo, Selina Turulja and Kensenia Shikanova advanced to the next round by default. 

Oct. 24: Day two

Gorbacheva advanced to the quarter-finals on the second day of the ITA Mountain Regional. The junior from UFA, Russia put up a dominant performance, beating Morgan Hall of BYU 6-1, 6-0 to put her into the round of 16. 

Gorbacheva then ended her day with a 6-2, 7-5 win over UNLV’s Samantha Li to cement her spot in the quarterfinals. 

In the doubles round of 32, Van Reek and Mintusova defeated the UNLV duo of Sara Alajbegovic and Leslie Fujitani 8-2 to advance to the round of 16. 

In the consolation doubles bracket, Turulja and Shikanova beat the Northern Colorado group 8-6. Also in the consolation bracket, was Carla Del Barrio and Gorbacheva who beat the duo from UTEP, 8-6. 

Oct. 25: Day three

On the third day of the ITA Mountain Regional, Gorbacheva continued her elite performance as she took down Leah Heimuli of BYU in three sets. Gorbacheva advanced to the semifinals on Saturday after losing the first set 7-5, before rallying in set two and three, winning 6-4 and 6-3, respectively. 

In consolation doubles play, Shikanova and Turulja advanced from an 8-2 victory over Paula Tascon and Alexandrea Ngo of Southern Utah.

According to Nevada Athletics, Anastaysha Gorbacheva had to pull out for the final day of competition for a non-injury situation. 

Nevada women’s tennis will next hit the court on Nov. 1-3, when they host the Wolf Pack Invitational. After that, the team is on break till Jan.  

Austin Paschke can be reached at rfreeberg@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @SagebrushSports.