SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Senior Veronika Lebisova and junior Carlotta Mencaglia joined forces to knock off a seeded doubles team in the opening day of action at the highly-competitive ITA Mountain Region Championships on Wednesday.
 
"We played extremely hard today in the singles after winning our doubles match this morning," UTEP head coach Ivan Fernandez said. "Unfortunately, we lost both in tight three-set matches. Lotti (Mencaglia) did everything she could after spraining her ankle at 5-5 in the 3rd set. We gave ourselves good opportunities to win but just couldn't close them out. I really liked the energy we showed today, and I hope we can play in the doubles round of 32 tomorrow."
 
The duo bested 16th-seeded Nikol Dobrilova and Jeselle Ante (Wyoming), 8-7. It was a wild affair, with the Miner pairing jumping out to a 4-0 lead. UTEP had match point at 7-6, before it went to a tiebreaker. After trailing 5-2 in the tiebreaker, Lebisova and Mencaglia dug deep to rally for the 9-7 triumph.
 
Lebisova squared off against No. 16 seed Annabel Davis (Idaho), and she gave it her all before ultimately succumbing 6-4, 4-6, 4-6. Mencaglia also drew a seeded foe in singles, and much like Lebisova, she went down fighting. Aya El Sayed (Colorado) snuck past her in three sets, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7.
 
Lebisova and Mencaglia are set to compete in the round of 32 on Thursday, pending Mencaglia's health.
 
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