Rudico, Fumagalli advance to doubles finals of ITA Regional Championship
10/15/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Senior Jocelle Rudico and freshman TJ Fumagalli advanced to the doubles final while senior Chloe Forlini advanced to the singles semifinal round to lead Air Force at the ITA Regional Championship in Albuquerque, N.M., on Saturday.
Rudico and Fumagalli beat Cheng and Calton of Utah, 8-2, to advance in the semifinals to advance to Sunday's finals. The pair led throughout the match.
"What a great day! This was the first time in history that an Air Force doubles team makes the finals and a singles player makes the semis. Then to do this with three different players makes this team and day very special," Air Force head coach Kim Gidley said.
"Jo Jo and TJ started off the day playing basic tennis and never let their opponents from Utah in the match. To get on and off the court is pretty huge this late in the tournament," Gidley said.
Forlini beat Maureen Slattery of Denver in a third-set tie-breaker, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 in the quarterfinals. Forlini rebounded from a 6-0 second set loss to post the win. Morales of Nevada beat her in semifinals, 6-3, 6-0 to end her championship run.
"For the second day on a row, an Air Force player upsets the No. 4 seed, this time with Chloe in singles," Gidley said. "Chloe was down the entire third set for the second day in a row and found a way to battle back to win in the tie-breaker for the third set. It was another unbelievable come back for her. Following that victory, she had to come back and play her semi-final match. In her second match, she just got beat. This was an amazing run for Chloe considering she lost first round in this tournament last year and ended up making the final 4 of a 128-draw. Chloe bleeds blue and you got to love that about her."
"Tomorrow is an exciting day for Air Force tennis and our doubles team of Jocelle Rudico and TJ Fumagalli to compete in the finals," she said.
ITA Regional Championships
Saturday, Oct. 15, 2016
Albuquerque, N.M.
Air Force Results
Singles
Quarterfinals
Chloe Forlini (AF) def. Maureen Slattery (DU), 6-3, 0-6, 7-6
Semifinals
Morales (Nevada) def. Chloe Forlini (AF), 6-3, 6-0
Doubles
Semifinals
Rudico/Fumagalli (AF) def. Cheng/Calton (Utah), 8-2
