STANFORD, Calif. – Saint Mary's Women's Tennis hit the courts Friday in Day 1 of the ITA Regional Championships. 
 
Doubles matches got the tournament started, and three Gaels pairings were in action. As the 30^th seed, Lene Mari Hovda and Jordan Harris took on the Seattle University pairing of Mireia Fehr and Lola Tavcar. Despite a quick start from the Seattle duo, Hovda and Harris quickly found a rhythm to win the match 8-4. The Saint Mary's pairing will play next play Stanford's Ana Geller and India Houghton Saturday morning at 9 AM. 
 
Olivia Rook and Stefanie Silva took on the University of Washington duo of Hikaru Sato and Melissa Sakar. Rook and Silva were able to create some early momentum, but the Huskies pair quickly took control of the match, winning 8-3. 
 
Jamie Pope and Gabriela Tevez faced a back-and-forth battle against University of Oregon's Jo-Yee Chan and Lilian Mould. A handful of unforced errors cost the Gaels in the end, as the Ducks pairing narrowly beat Pope and Tevez 8-5. 
 
Six Gaels competed in the singles bracket Friday, which saw Jordan Harris win her opening round match against Cal Poly's Shreya Ravilla. Harris got out of the gates hot, blanking Ravilla in the first set 6-0. The Cal Poly player battled back to claim the second set 6-4. Harris didn't let the second set get to her, as she regrouped in the third set to win 6-2. 
 
Harris then had a quick turnaround to face Karin Young of Oregon. It was another three set battle, but this time Harris unfortunately came up short, losing 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. 
 
Stefanie Silva put up a strong singles performance Friday night, beating Portland State's Elizabeth Strongina 6-3, 6-1. Silva then faced Jessica Alsola of UC Berkeley, where her run came to an end. Alsola beat Silva 6-2, 6-0, but Silva will be back in action tomorrow in the consolation bracket.
 
Lene Mari Hovda was unfortunately forced to retire due to injury in the third set of a thrilling match between Oregon's Sophie Luescher. Hovda won the first set in a 7-6 tiebreak, before losing the second 5-7. Luescher was leading 1-0 in the third set when Hovda was forced to retire. 
 
Sophomore Oliva Rook took her match to three sets as well, getting off to a great start Sacramento State's Mayya Gorbunova by winning the opening set 6-1. Gorbunova began to find her groove in the second set, narrowly besting Rook 7-5. Rook was unable to maintain her precision from the first set, as Gorbunova won the third set 6-0 to win the match. 
 
Rook is back in action on Saturday afternoon in the consolation bracket as she's set to take on Seattle University's Mireia Fehr. 
 
Gabriela Tevez also took her match to three sets; a dramatic back-and-forth contest between Cal State Fresno's Carlotta Nonnis Marzano. Marzano claimed the first set 7-6, besting Tevez 7-5 in the tiebreak. Tevez came out with venom in the second set, powering her serves past Marzano to win the second set 6-1. It came down to the wire, as once again the two headed to a tiebreak knotted at six games apiece. Despite a late comeback, Marzano bested Tevez 8-6 in the tiebreak to win the match. 
 
Tevez will take on Seattle University's Jade Quintana at 4 PM on Saturday. 
 
Freshman Jamie Pope was unable to get going against Oregon's Myah Petchey, as the freshman was bested 6-1, 6-0. Pope is set to take on Stanford's Emma Sun on Saturday at 4:30 PM. 
 
Full results from Day 1's action and the full bracket can be found HERE.