SAN DIEGO – The University of Richmond women’s tennis duo of Sofia Barbulescu and Lara Bakhaya capped the fall season with competition at the ITA Conference Masters Championships, held Nov. 6–9 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego. The Spiders earned their place in the national event after capturing the doubles title at the Atlantic 10 Conference Masters Qualifier in October.
Barbulescu and Bakhaya battled through a competitive weekend against top regional champions, falling 6-2, 6(3)-7(7), [10-7] in a tight opening match to Tarleton State’s Aya Ishii and Maria Castano. The pair then moved to the consolation draw, where they dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to North Florida’s Isabel Oliveira and Laurie Barendse to close out play.
The appearance marked Richmond’s second straight year represented at the ITA Conference Masters, following Barbulescu’s singles qualification in 2024.
Updated Fall Records (ITA Conference Masters)
Singles
Barbulescu: 5-1
Bakhaya: 2-3
O’Neil: 4-4
Novak: 3-5
Webber: 0-5
Walsh: 2-4
Lee: 2-7
Guerra: 2-4
Doubles
Bakhaya/Barbulescu: 2-2
Bakhaya/Novak: 1-2
Barbulescu/O’Neil: 2-1
Lee/Webber: 0-2
Novak/Webber: 3-1
Guerra/Walsh: 1-0
Barbulescu/Guerra: 0-1
Webber/O’Leary: 0-1
Novak/Lee: 0-1
O’Neil/Guerra: 1-2
Lee/Walsh: 0-2