The Warhawks hosted players from Arkansas State, Samford, Stephen F. Austin and Southeastern Louisiana for the Warhawks Invitational at home this past weekend.  ULM was able to put out a great showing to start the season as senior Madalina Grigoriu and the duo of junior Jimena Garbino and senior Brianna Gomez won their respective bracket championships. 

Grigoriu continues with the success she had last season as she went undefeated during the weekend tournament. Grigoriu reached the Gold Bracket Championship by defeating Stephen F. Austin’s Nyah Kauders, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round before topping Southeastern’s Putri Insani, 7-6 (5), 6-1. These wins set her up to finish strong as she bested Southeastern’s Hunter Roper 6-4, 6-1 in the Gold Bracket Championship. 

The Garbino and Gomez duo was the strongest team for the Warhawks this weekend as they claimed first place in the Hawks bracket. On Friday they opened with a win over SFA’s Kouchnareva and Bleicher, 6-2. 

On Saturday the pair finished the job by defeating Arkansas State’s Rebecca Brody and Sofia Vdovychenko, 6-1, in the semifinals before besting Southeastern’s Kanarskaya and Oborina in the finals, 6-4.

ULM also had a couple of players place second and third in their brackets. 

In the White Bracket, sophomore Giovanna Pereira placed second after having a great opening weekend. 

Pereira won both of her matches on Friday, beating A-State’s Yasmine Humbert in the first round, 6-3, 6-3, and SFA’s Ai Noa Fabre in the semifinals, 6-3, 6-4. On Saturday she lost a close match to Stephen F. Austin’s Elena Bleicher, 6-3, 3-6 (10-6). 

In the Gold Bracket, sophomore Hala Badwy placed third. She bested Samford’s Alyssa Hayduk in the opening round, 7-5, 6-0, but lost the semifinal to Roper, 0-6, 6-2 (10-7). 

The other third-place finisher for the Warhawks was Garbino who played in the Burgundy bracket. She won the first-round match over Southeastern’s Ekaterina Oborina, 6-4, 2-6 (11-9). She placed third after winning her first match of the day on Saturday 2-6, 7-5 (10-6) against Stephen F. Austin’s Lucy Furness, but she dropped her second match to Southeastern’s Ekaterina Oborina, 6-1, 6-0.

Warhawks tennis returns to action on Sept. 24-25 for the Northwestern State Invitational in Natchitoches, LA.