VILLANOVA, Pa.- The first day of the annual Villanova Invitation was a success for the Wildcats as all the Villanova teams advanced to the second round.
 
The three days of competition kicked off on Friday September 16 and allowed seven doubles matches per day and between 11 to 13 singles matches to be played per day. The Wildcats hosted multiple teams to participate in the series including the University of Delaware, Temple University, and Drexel University.

On day one of the Villanova Invitational their first outing resulted in one team of doubles and one match of singles to prove successful for the Wildcats.
 
The freshman duo of Maggie Gehrig and Emi Callahan debuted for their first collegiate match as Wildcats on the court with a clean 6-3 win over Drexel's team of Lorie Lemongo and Mya Fuentes.
 
Senior captain Amanda Rivera-González defeated Drexel's Cristina Corte Gonzalez in a 6-2, 6-4 win proving a difficult match for Corte Gonzalez. Rivera-González is a veteran for the Wildcats seeing a lot of court time and owning a 8-10 overall record in singles and a 5-5 overall record in doubles during her career.
 
Day two of the tournament saw some switches in doubles partner pairings which were unsuccessful in pulling out any wins for the Wildcats but provided good experience for the athletes to play with other teammates.
 
Day two was a struggle in singles as well as the Wildcats we met with some tough competition. Two close matches, which were forced into tie breakers, highlighted the freshman class putting up a fight once more. Gehrig and Callahan emerged as tough competition for their Delaware opponents.
 
Gehrig won a set and lost a set to force the tie breaker against the Blue Hen's Julieta Honrubia and fell in the end during a close battle (4-6, 6-3, 10-6).
 
Callahan went up against Alina Vasilenko and faced the same result as her fellow Wildcat Gehrig, putting up a strong duel and eventually falling (6-4, 5-7, 10-7).
 
The third and final day of play emerged a more victorious ending for the Wildcats with three singles wins concluding the weekend.
 
The junior from North Carolina, Bella Steffen took on Sena Takebe from Delaware in one set where Steffen pulled out the 7-5 win.
 
Sophomore Chloe Floyd joined her teammate and fellow North Carolina native in victory over her opposition from Temple, Miu Yabuta, in a riveting battle forced into a tie breaker. Floyd took the match over Yabuta resulting in the 5-7, 6-4, 13-11 win.
 
Callahan faced off against Temple's Sydney Hua and made quick work of the matchup with a 6-3, 6-4 win. Callahan displayed herself as a up and coming key player to keep an eye on for the Wildcats and a potential threat to future opponents. There is certainly more to see from the freshman as the year progresses.
 
The Wildcats return to action on Friday September 23 at Army for three days of play.