Area women’s doubles team from Gonzaga, Washington State bow out at NCAA Tournament

ORLANDO, Fla. – Women’s doubles teams from Gonzaga and Washington State saw their seasons come to a close Wednesday after setbacks at the NCAA Tennis Doubles Championship at the USTA National Campus.

Gonzaga’s Sophie Whittle and Graciela Rosas lost to top-seeded Angela Kulikov and Rianna Valdes of USC 6-1, 6-4 in the Round of 16. Whittle and Rosas, who won a three-set match on Tuesday, trailed the second set 5-4 before the Trojans duo prevailed.

Washington State’s Tiffany Mylonas and Hikaru Sato dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to South Carolina’s fourth-seeded Ingrid Gamarra and Mia Horvit. The first set was tied at 2 when Gamarra and Horvit took control with back-to-back service breaks. Mylonas and Sato fell behind 5-1 in the second set and briefly rallied by breaking serve.

Whittle, who also played in the singles field, and Rosas ended the season 22-4 in doubles play.

Mylonas and Sato, who hadn’t lost since March 29, finished a program-record 27-7. They were the first Cougars doubles team at the tournament in 17 years and the first in program history to win a match at the championship.

Quarterfinals are scheduled for Thursday. The championship match is Saturday.