Cary, N.C. – Texas Women’s Tennis freshmen No. 104 Ashton Bowers and Carmen Herea advanced to the singles main draw of the ITA All-American Championships on Tuesday in Cary, N.C. 

Bowers won her second qualifying match in dramatic fashion, coming back from a set down to win two tiebreakers over qualifying 2 seed #60 Reece Carter of Washington, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2). In the second set tiebreaker, Bowers jumped out to a 4-1 lead, and although Carter got back within one point at 5-4 and 6-5, Bowers closed it out at 7-5 to force a third set. There, Reece broke on a deuce point for a 6-5 lead, but Bowers broke right back to stay alive and send it to a breaker. In that frame, Bowers broke a 2-2 tie with a 5-0 run to the win.

The path was longer for Herea, who began in prequalifying and won five-straight matches to reach the main draw. The last of those was a 7-5, 6-2 victory over #113 Maria Juliana Parra Romero of Florida State on Tuesday. The players exchanged breaks to open the first set, which then stayed on serve all the way to a 6-5 lead for Herea when she got the break she needed to win 7-5. The second set was then tied at 2-2 before Herea took control with a 4-0 run for the win.

In other singles matches, junior No. 96 Vivian Ovrootsky fell in her second match of qualifying play, 7-5, 6-0, to 16 seed #83 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer of UCLA, while freshman Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo won her match in the qualifying consolation draw over Zoe Hammond of Kentucky, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Bowers and Herea will both be in action on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT with Bowers taking on 5 seed No. 5 Ange Oby Kajuru of Oklahoma State, while Herea faces #73 Eleana Yu of Duke. 

2024 ITA Women’s All-American Championships

Tournament Central

Singles Qualifying Draw Round of 32 – Tuesday, Sept. 24

Carmen Herea (TEXAS) def. #113 Maria Juliana Parra Romero (FSU), 7-5, 6-2

#104 Ashton Bowers (TEXAS) def. 2 seed #60 Reece Carter (WASH), 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2)

16 seed #83 Anne-Christine Lutkemeyer (UCLA) def. #96 Vivian Ovrootsky (TEXAS), 7-5, 6-0

Singles Qualifying Consolation Draw Round of 32 – Tuesday, Sept. 24

Ariana Anazagasty-Pursoo (TEXAS) def. Zoe Hammond (UK), 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

Singles Main Draw Round of 64 – Wednesday, Sept. 25

#104 Ashton Bowers (TEXAS) vs. 5 seed #5 Ange Oby Kajuru (OKST), 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT

Carmen Herea (TEXAS) vs. #73 Eleana Yu (DUKE), 10 a.m. ET/9 a.m. CT