WEST POINT, NY. - The Wildcats had a strong showing at the West Point Invitational were multiple players and teams made far in the tournament.
 
The three days of competition kicked off on Friday September 23, in a tournament bracket split up into two doubles flights and five singles flights. The doubles flights started with 36 teams with 4 teams playing for a spot in the 32-team bracket. The singles flights started the first round with 32 individual players in each flight of A, B, C, D, and E. There were 162 players from colleges and universities all over the country competing at the invitational hosted by Army West Point.

On day one of the Villanova Invitational their first outing resulted in all Villanova doubles teams advancing to the second round in the 32-team bracket. Villanova singles players only competed in singles flights A through D, none were in flight E.
 
Both Villanova flight A singles players were sent home early in the first round of play. Sophomore Valieriia Kornieva faced off against third seeded Lan Mi and fell after going into a tie breaker with a 6-4, 2-6, 10-6 loss. Sophomore Emma Brogan was defeated by seventh seeded Emma Baker in a 3-6, 0-6 loss.
 
The pair of newcomers competing for the Wildcats in flight B singles had great performances in the Villanova Invitational. Freshman Maggie Gehrig (fifth seed) took on Mathilde Sreeves and proved victorious in a 6-3, 6-1 win. Fellow freshman Emi Callahan had to withdraw from the competition due to an injury.
 
In flight C singles, both Wildcats were bested in battle and fell to their opponents. Senior captain Caitlin Fisher faced off against Shreya Gulia and was defeated in a 6-3, 6-3 loss. Junior Bella Steffen had a close battle against Oliwia Marcelina Kempinski but also ended up falling short in a 6-4, 6-4 loss.
 
Flight D singles was successful for both Wildcats who competed in this draw. Freshman Savie Seebald was seeded fourth and went head-to-head with Emily O'Donovan where Seebald win in a 1-6, 6-3, 10-6 tiebreaker. Senior captain Amanda Rivera-González made quick work of her opponent Laina Campos in a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Both Wildcats moved onto the second round.
 
In the second round of doubles flight A both Villanova teams fell short after battling about their opponents. The pair of freshman, Callahan and Gehrig fell after going into a tie breaker against Maria Brobotova and Isabella Brilliant Maria in a 6-7 (0-7) loss. The duo of Brogan and Kornieva also fell in a 4-6 loss against Paige Herremans and Cooper Jackson.
 
In the second round of doubles flight B the team of senior captains Fisher and Rivera-González went up against Flavia Rambaldi and Renee Sharma and took the victory in a 6-3 win. The team of sophomore Chloe Floyd and senior captain Taylor Gould took on Nansi Toskova and Denise Lai Nansi and fell in a 5-7 loss.
 
Day two of the tournament advanced the last team of Villanova doubles in flight B round three. Fisher and Rivera-González defeated Oliwia Marcelina Kempinski and Emily O'Donovan in a 6-7 (4-7) tie breaker win advancing the team to the quarterfinals.
 
Singles flight B showed an impressive performance from Gehrig who made quick work of Tyne Miller in a 6-1, 6-1 win advancing her to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals Gehrig faced off against Natalia Vela and after a tough fight, came up victorious in a 1-6, 6-4, 7-10 tie breaker win which earned her a spot in the semifinals.
 
In singles flight B round two, Seebald (fourth seed) and Rivera-González advanced to the quarterfinals after their wins. Fourth seeded Seebald beat Ellen Zureick in a 6-1, 2-6, 10-5 tie breaker win. Rivera-González bested third seeded Carolyn Ahn in a clean sweep, 6-0, 6-0. In the quarterfinals Seebald fell to first seeded Emma Sy in a 6-1, 6-1 loss ending her time in the tournament. Rivera-González was on a roll with a 0-6, 3-6 win over Natalie Fuller.
 
The third and final day of play brought on some great play in the last rounds of the tournament in both singles and doubles.
 
The last Wildcats standing in doubles flight B, Fisher and Rivera-González (eighth seed) faced off against Mira Filiberti and Jordan Bradley taking the 3-6 win and moving on to the semifinals. In the semifinals Fisher and Rivera-González were finally stopped in their tracks by Julia Kelly and Jenna Sabile in a 3-6 loss after displaying a great performance on the weekend.
 
The last two Villanova singles players, Gehrig and Rivera-González both advanced to the finals in their flights. Gehrig beat Carlota Casasampere Escoda in a 3-6, 5-7 win in flight B of singles. Rivera-González defeated second seeded Vennmukiil Mathivanan in a 6-4, 6-4 win in flight D singles. In the championship round Gehrig put up a hard-fought effort against Natalia Aruj losing the first set 5-7 and taking the second 7-6 (8-6) and ultimately falling after a very close 8-10 battle. Rivera-González faced off against the number one seed in the flight D bracket and came up short in the end with a 6-2, 6-1 loss.
 
The Wildcats displayed some great performances on the weekend and will return to action on Friday September 30 for their last fall season tournament at Navy for three days of play.