Busy Weekend for Women’s Tennis

SALT LAKE CITY - The Utah Women's tennis team is set to play at two different tournaments this weekend. Utah will compete at the USD Intercollegiate Invitational on Sept. 29 - Oct. 2 and the ITA All-American Championships on Oct 1-9.
 
Utah is sending two players, Madison Tattini and Katya Townsend, to San Diego to represent the team. This will be Townsend's first appearance as a Ute after transferring from Texas A&M. 
 
Tattini is making her first appearance of the fall season. Last season as a Ute, she finished fourth on the team with 11 wins in the spring and tallied 15 overall wins. She won 19 doubles matches and was part of the fourth-ranked ITA Mountain Region Doubles team. 
 
Townsend comes to the University of Utah after a successful four-year career at Texas A&M. During her career at Texas A&M. She collected All-SEC Second Team honors, SEC All-Freshman Team, SEC All-Tournament Team, ITA Texas Region Player to Watch. She was also successful off the court, earning ITA Scholar-Athlete and SEC Academic Honor roll. She has been ranked 12 times in the ITA rankings, nine singles and three doubles. 
 
Anastasia Goncharova, Madison Tattini, and Kaila Barksdale were accepted into the prestigious ITA All-American Championships. However, Barksdale will be the only Ute in the field and will be making her debut this weekend. 
 
Barksdale is a freshman from San Diego, Calif., and is the Utes' first Blue-Chip recruit in program history. When she signed with the Utes, she was ranked 23rd in the nation and the seventh-best player in the state of California. During her sophomore and junior year, Barksdale was the CIF Singles Champion (2019 & 2020-21); while being a finalist her senior year.
 
Last Time Out
Utah attended the Barb Chandler Classic, hosted by Boise State, on Sept 23-25. Katya Hersh and Samantha Horwood represented the Utes at the mini-draw tournament. The Utes were able to come out on top on the first day of play, defeating Montana State 2-1 in the Blue Flight. Hersh and Horwood could not keep the momentum going the next day when Boise State defeated them, 3-0, sending them to a consultation match on the last day of the tournament. Unfortunately, Horwood could not play in both doubles and her singles match, but Hersh still claimed one victory for Utah in singles. Utah ended the tournament with a 2-1loss to Montana State. 
 
Up Next
Utah Women's Tennis heads to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the ITA Mountain Regionals on Oct.12-16. 
 
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