Baker Advances to Main Draw Singles at ITA Central Regional

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah With two wins on the day, junior Gabby Baker has advanced to the main draw singles at the ITA Central Regional, held at the Michael D. Case Center in Tulsa.

Baker took both matches in straight sets. In her first match, she clinched a victory over Utah's Leigh Walsh, 6-3, 6-3, and went on to the second match to defeat Kansas' Lauren Hommell, 6-1, 6-1.

Despite being eliminated from the tournament after their second matches, sophomore Chelsea Orr and junior Monica Purice picked up wins in their first matches of the day. Orr defeated Arkansas-Little Rock's Ellie Vicary, 6-3, 6-1, while Purice defeated Wichita State's Wendi Webster, 6-4, 1-6, 10-3. Orr dropped a 6-3, 6-2, decision to Colorado's Verra Nurmi in the second match, and Purice followed with a 6-1, 7-6(3), loss to Franziska Jendrian, also from Colorado.

Baker will join sophomore Christi Baxley and junior Irina Lykina in singles competition scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Thursday. After the first round of the main draw singles, the teams of Baker and Orr and Baxley and Lykina will hit the courts for the main draw doubles event.