Lady Pirates End Fall Schedule at NCCU Invitational

DURHAM, N.C. (Oct. 21, 2024) … This past weekend the Hampton women's tennis team wrapped up the fall portion of their schedule at the NCCU Invitational. Coach Ana Popvic's squad had two doubles teams make the quarterfinals. On the singles side of the bracket, senior Meiri Okuwaki made the finals.

Okuwaki was seeded fifth in the singles flight A and defeated UNCW's Lucie Gomez in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 10-5. The Saitama Japan, native, in her quarterfinal match was able to defeat the three seed of the bracket 7-9, 7-3. She would also go on to defeat the highest seed, UNCW's Edia Ari, 7-5, 6-2 in the semifinals before falling in the finals.

Hampton's Diana Stardubtseva competed in the same flight as Okuwaki but was drawn to the other side of the bracket. Stradubtseva made the semifinals defeating Alex Rodehorst 6-3, 6-2, and the second seed Elf Abayrak 6-4, 6-3. The junior fell in the semifinal to the eventual champion of the A flight.

Jewel Green, Sofia Sokolova, and Melis Sakiroglu all battled in the other singles flight. Both Green and Sakiroglu fell in the opening round. Sokolova won her first match defeating UNCW's Ananyaa Bharghave 6-1, 6-5. The Krasnogorsk, Russia native's run ended in the quarterfinal round.

Okuwaki and Sereane Bryan joined the doubles team of Stardubtseva and Masa Mitic in the quarterfinal round. The duo of Sokolova and Sakiroglu fell in the opening round of the bracket. Oukuwaki and Bryan fell in a close match 7-5 while Stardubtseva and Mitic lost 6-3.

Fans can view the full results of the NCCU Invitational in the links below.

Doubles
Singles Flight A
Singles Flight B

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Players Mentioned

Sofia Sokolova: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Meiri Okuwaki: 5' 3"; Junior

Masa Mitic: 5' 10"; Freshman

Melis Sakiroglu: Freshman

Players Mentioned

Sofia Sokolova
: 5' 10"; Sophomore

Meiri Okuwaki
: 5' 3"; Junior

Masa Mitic
: 5' 10"; Freshman

Melis Sakiroglu
: Freshman