Tiger tennis teams bring home three national titles

Competing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Cup Thursday through Saturday in Rome, GA, the Cowley College men's and women's tennis teams combined to bring home three national championships.

This marked the first time in the history of the Tiger tennis teams that Cowley had a national champion at the ITA Cup.

"I am very proud of all our players who competed at the ITA Cup," Cowley head coach Arianna Raga said. "We have been working very hard on and off the court, and to see the growth and fight the players showed this past week is extremely rewarding. We always take pride in representing our school and competing at the highest level."

Cowley's national titles came from the men's doubles tandem of Reiya Komagata and Bruno Nhavene and the women's doubles team of Arina Babenko and Yerkezhan Arystanbekova. Babenko went on to defeat Arystanbekova (2-6, 4-6, retired) in three sets in the finals of women's singles.

In the men's doubles final, Komagata and Nhavene defeated Tyler Junior College's Dan Persson and Juan Carlos Garcia 6-4, 7-5. While, Babenko and Arystanbekova knocked off Hillsborough Community College's Yoana Dudova and Catherine Goldman 6-3, 6-2 in the women's doubles final.

Komagata advanced to the semifinals of men's singles before losing to eventual national champion Jean-Baptiste Badon (6-4,6-4) of Glendale Community College.

"With our fall season now over, we will shift our focus to the spring season," Raga said. "Our goal stays the same: to bring a national title as a team with both the men's and women's teams." 

Photos Provided by Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA)