Vitoria Campigotto of the Barton Community College women’s tennis team earned an automatic national qualifying bid by capturing the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Fall Central Region title Saturday in Arkansas City.
The sophomore entered the 22-entry field as the No. 2 seed, winning three matches in two days before knocking off the top seeded Cynthia Wanjala from host Cowley College Saturday afternoon in straight 6-1 sets.
The victory punches Campigotto’s ticket to the ITA Cup held October 16-19 at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia.
Receiving a bye in the Round of 32, Campigotto began her quest Thursday afternoon with twin 6-3 victories over Yu Hozumi of Cowley. Returning Friday morning, Campigotto benefitted by an injury default over teammate and 7th seeded Grace Tchamoussa. In the afternoon session, Capigotto would again defeat a Tiger opponent by prevailing 7-4 in the tiebreak after taking the first set 6-3 but dropping the second 6-1 to 6th seeded Naghely Garcia.
Following the two Friday matches of singles play, Campigotto returned to the court teaming with freshman Danira Ndengoue but the 4th seeded tandem was forced to retire in the quarterfinal bout with Seward County’s Salma Achik and Patricia Sazambile.
Ndengoue’s run in singles action nearly produced an all-Barton final, but the 5th seed came up short against Wanjala 7-5 in the third set after splitting 6-3 frames. Receiving a bye in the first round, Ndengoue rolled past Pratt’s Ilse Smaalders 6-2, 6-3 in the Round of 16 before fighting back from a 6-1 opening set loss to defeat Seward County’s Paula Elena Oborocea 6-3 and 6-3 in advancing to the semifinals.
Barton’s other two singles entries, sophomore Salalee Seejong dropped a 6-3, 6-1 decision to Pratt’s Emma Guzman while Tchamoussa advanced by injury default in her first match before retiring to Campigotto in the quarterfinals.
The pair also had their doubles play cut short early by dropping an 8-3 loss to Pratt’s Smaalders and Sandra Dominguez.
Complete results and more information regarding the ITA can be found at: https://www.wearecollegetennis.com/
