Owls fare well at ITA, Szabo set for finals

9/27/2026 8:24:00 PM

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Taking on some of the nation's best tennis competitors, the Kenyon College women's tennis team competed at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's (ITA) Central Region Championships this past weekend, hosted by Kalamazoo College. The Owls battled through a grueling three-day tournament against several national powerhouses like University of Chicago and Washington University in Saint Louis.

The opening day of the tournament saw some tough singles match-ups, but the Owls were ready to prove they belong on the national stage. Early in the day, Maya Stolarsky took down Lake Forest's Anya Mookencherry in a 7-5, 6-0 win. Xenia Ilyasova utterly dominated and swept Ava Marroni from Earlham College in two straight sets (6-0, 6-0). Later in the day, Ana Brand defeated Calvin University's Marina Ribeiro (6-2, 6-1), and Kiara Komlodi won over Kaitlyn Stievater from Hope College (6-2, 6-3). Lora Szabo beat Ana Clara Pizaia Ornellas from Calvin University (6-3, 6-1), and Chelsea Chakanyuka defeated Saint Mary's University's (IN) Anna Gardner (6-3, 6-1).

Doubles play began just as successfully with all of the Kenyon pairings making it past the first round. Brand and Stolarsky easily dominated Wittenberg's Marin Summers and Kenzie Stacey in a 8-0 win. Ilyasova and Szabo added to that with a 8-2 win over North Park's Katharina Schuler and Alexandra Pugachova. Chakanyuka and Komlodi headed into the round of 16 after they defeated North Central's Berkley Klarich and Kate Herlihy, 8-2.

The Owls were back in action on day two of the tournament, facing the toughest competitors that were left. Doubles play concluded with a hard-fought loss by Chakanyuka and Komlodi to WashU's Casandra Li and Samantha Slowki (8-7 [8-6]), who went on to play in the doubles quarterfinals.

For singles play, Brand went into the round of 16 after comfortably defeating Emilie Lew from Washington University 6-1, 6-3, but she ultimately lost to Chicago's Sarena Biria (6-0, 6-4). Komlodi beat Addison Lyons from Kalamazoo College (6-0, 6-2), but fell in the round 16 to WashU's Leila Epstein in a very close contest (7-6 [7-5], 6-4).

Szabo went on quite the run that lasted through Sunday's results. As a first-year, she dismantled several veteran players, including Case Western's national powerhouse Shayli Dodia (7-5, 7-6 [9-7]), WashU's graduate student Leila Epstein (6-4, 7-6 [4-7]), and tournament top-seed Sarena Biria from Chicago (6-1, 7-6 [7-5]). Szabo had to outlast her opponents as several matches went into intense set tie-breakers and is slated to play in the ITA Regional Tournament final on Monday, September 28 at 10 a.m.

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