Falcons Capture Doubles Title At MSU Denver Invite

Air Force women's tennis completed play at the Metro State Denver Invite in Denver. The freshman duo of Kaleigh Yun-Thayer and Karina Chao led the way by capturing the women's doubles championship.

Yun-Thayer and Chao went 3-0 in doubles play to win the women's A draw doubles title. The duo opened with a win over Lilly Steinemeier/Ava Neuburger-Higby of Metro State 8-4. They then won in the semifinals over Makenna Livingston/Maike Waldburger of Colorado Mesa 8-4. In the finals, Yun-Thayer and Chao defeated Issy Coman/Halley Romero of Colorado Mesa by default (led 2-1 at time of default).

Air Force also had a strong performance in singles by freshman Andrea Le, who reached the finals of the B draw. Le opened Sunday with a win oin the semifinals over Waldburger 6-2, 6-4. She fell in the championship of Camille Belberka of Seward County 6-3, 2-6, 13-11.

Freshmen Karina Chao and Alexis Odom both reached the semifinals in the A draw before dropping both their matches.

"I was really proud of this group of freshmen for stepping it up this weekend on their own," head coach Kim Gidley said. "They were all so coachable and it was certainly a learning experience for both the players and the coaches. This is an amazing recruit class and thus group is going to accomplish great things for Air Force tennis based on this first outing. Both Andrea Le and Karina Chao lost in tie-breakers for the third set in which both players had match points. To be in this situation, this early in this season is tremendous. They each fought so hard and the effort was there. Now it is just a matter of execution and being in that situation again. In the doubles, we saw tremendous growth and I was excited to see their continued improvement. Both Kaleigh and Karina made huge adjustments and it was exciting to see them capture their first title together."

Air Force returns to action in two weeks when its hosts the ITA Bedford Cup in the Mountains Sept. 23-26.

Air Force results for day two at MSU Denver Invitational:
Singles
A Draw Semifinals
Carol Mora (SCC) def. Karina Chao (AF) 2-6, 7-6, 10-8
Justine Lespes (SCC) def. Alexis Odom (AF) 7-6, 6-2

B Draw Semifinals
Andrea Le (AF) def. Maike Waldburger (CMU) 6-2, 6-4

Finals
Camille Belberka (SCC) def. Andrea Le (AF) 6-3, 2-6, 13-11

Doubles
A Draw Round of 16
Andrea Le/Alexis Odom (AF) def. Kali Hamilton/Tilly Blasdale (CSUP) 8-3

A Draw Quarterfinals
Kaleigh Yun-Thayer/Karina Chao (AF) def. Lilly Steinemeier/Ava Neuburger-Higby (MSU) 8-4
C. Belberka/J. Lespes def. Le/Odom (AF) 8-6

Semifinals
Yun-Thayer/Chao (AF) def. Makenna Livingston/Maike Waldburger (CMU) 6-3

Finals
Yun-Thayer/Chao (AF) def. Issy Coman/Halley Romero (CMU) 2-1, default

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