Women's Tennis Begins ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships in Knoxville

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On the opening day of play at the 2025 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Ohio Valley Regional Championships in Knoxville, Tennessee, the Belmont University women's tennis team had three Bruins in action. Freshman Mia Jones, sophomore Jessica Popiol and graduate Cielo Tapia-Cruz were all in the qualifying draw for singles.
 
Highlighting Belmont's action Thursday at the University of Tennessee, Jones earned a first-round win in three sets. After dropping the opening set, 6-2, against Austin Peay's Pauline Bruns, Jones stormed back and took sets two and three in convincing fashion, 6-1, 6-0.
 
In the second and final round of singles qualifying, Jones couldn't get past fifth-seeded Rufaro Magarira of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
 
The opening round of doubles begins Friday's play with Popiol teaming up with redshirt freshman Savannah Webster at 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET. Jones and Tapia-Cruz will also see a 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET first serve for their first-round doubles match Friday morning.
 
Webster earned automatic entry into the singles main draw and will take on Chattanooga's Addison Iacono in the first round Friday at 11:30 a.m. CT/12:30 p.m. ET.
 
All of the Bruins' match scores from Thursday can be found below.
 
ITA Ohio Valley Regional Championships – Thursday Results
 
Singles
QR64 - Mia Jones (Belmont) def. Pauline Bruns (Austin Peay), 2-6, 6-1, 6-0
QR64 - (4) Addison Iacono (Chattanooga) def. Jessica Popiol (Belmont), 7-5, 6-1
QR64 - (9) Audelie Lesauvage (ETSU) def. Cielo Tapia-Cruz (Belmont), 6-2, 6-1
QR32 - (5) Rufaro Magarira (Chattanooga) def. Mia Jones (Belmont), 6-4, 6-3
C-QR32 - Chase Boyer (Indiana) def. Jessica Popiol (Belmont), 6-3, 6-4
C-QR32 - Li Hsin Lin (Indiana) def. Cielo Tapia-Cruz (Belmont), 6-1, 6-7 (4), (10-7)
 
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