FRESNO, Calif. – MSU Denver's Emily Hafner defeated a third straight seeded opponent Saturday to move into the finals of the ITA West Regional tennis tournament, and it took a come-from-behind effort to keep her from becoming the Roadrunners' first individual regional champion since 2017.
 
The unseeded Hafner beat No. 1 seed Madison Kane of Azusa Pacific (Calif.) 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals, following up Friday wins over No. 4 seed Abigail Wild of Hawaii Pacific and No. 6 seed Tiffany Carrillo of Concordia-Irvine (Calif.).
 
In the final, Cristiana Miruna Tudor of Azusa Pacific bounced back to defeat Hafner 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5).
 
"Overall, good weekend for our tennis program," MSU Denver coach Bruno Campos said. "We had multiple positive results, but Emily made history. She beat the number 6 seed, number 4 seed and number 1 seed. It's the first time we had a player in the finals of the ITA regionals against joining the PacWest. Her hard work and dedication have truly paid off. I am super proud of Emily and the entire team."
 
Also Saturday, the MSU Denver men's doubles team of Maximo Lawlor and Alejandro Jimenez won the consolation bracket by injury default over Elias Weeks and Andrew Suver of Point Loma (Calif.).
 
Saturday's MSU Denver results:
 
MEN
Doubles
Consolation
Maximo Lawlor/Alejandro Jimenez def. Elias Weeks/Andrew Suver (PLNU) inj. default
WOMEN
Singles
Main Draw
Emily Hafner def. (1) Madison Kane (APU) 7-5, 6-4
Cristiana Miruna Tudor (APU) def. Emily Hafner 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-5)