July 11, 2013

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina women’s tennis sophomore Natalie Looney won an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Summer Circuit doubles event on June 30 in Kansas City, Mo., at the Plaza Tennis Center.

Looney teamed with MacKenna Maddox, a sophomore at BYU, for the tournament. The duo opened with an 8-6 victory over Emily Conrad and Mary Wright before blanking Katy Lehenbauer and Kristen Stivers 8-0 in the quarterfinals. Looney and Maddox snagged an 8-5 triumph from Carly Cassity and Lindsey Whitehead in the semis and then won 9-7 against Montse Fernandez and Summer Schlotterback in the championship match.

“Natalie has been working hard on both her singles and doubles games over the past semester,” South Carolina head coach Kevin Epley said. “This is a big win for her confidence and we are looking for her to build on that success throughout the rest of the summer and into the fall.”

Looney also reached the quarterfinals of the singles draw, first defeating Jane Hutchinson 6-0, 6-1 and then Miranda Erisman 6-0, 6-0 in the round of 16. Karyn Guttormsen beat Looney in the quarters 6-1, 6-4.

Nearly 30,000 men and women have competed in ITA Summer Circuit events since they began in 1993. The circuit provides college (and junior and alumni) players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. The ITA Summer Circuit is currently made up of nine regional circuits (Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Texas, Northern California and Southern California) consisting of four consecutive open tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the USTA/ITA National Summer Championships in Bloomington, Ind., in August.