Stenta & Bridges Split on Opening Day of Gopher Invitational

Thursday, September 21

Minneapolis, MN

All Day

NC State

Gopher Invitational

Stenta & Bridges Split on Opening Day of Gopher Invitational

9/21/2017 7:47:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Minneapolis, Minn. – Senior Tayla Stenta and freshman Taylor Bridges opened play for the NC State women's tennis team at the Gopher Invitational at the Baseline Tennis Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Thursday evening, winning their first doubles match then narrowly losing their second.

Today marked the beginning of Stenta's final chapter with the Wolfpack, while for Bridges it signified a new beginning.

In their opening match, they took on Marquette's Milica Novakovic and Andrea Amortegui, defeating them with ease, 6-1.

They then faced Caitlyn Merzbacher and Tina Krenis of Minnesota, falling 7-6 (4). Stenta and Bridges were down 3-5, saved multiple match points to get back to 5-5 and even got ahead 6-5 at one stage, but were edged in the end.

Bridges enjoyed playing at the collegiate level for the first time, and was thrilled to do it alongside her more experienced teammate, Stenta.

"It was really exciting competing in my first college tournament, I'm looking forward to tomorrow and the rest of the tournament" she explained. "Tayla's energy on court really kept us positive and her experience really shined through during the tight and important points. I enjoy playing with her because she is very encouraging."

Up Next
Play will start at 8:00 a.m. Friday with two doubles matches and then two singles matches will follow throughout the day.

.@taylastenta & Taylor Bridges start us off in doubles tonight at the Gopher Invitational!#1pack1goal ????https://t.co/a4oTLAYnAO pic.twitter.com/4ba8yCkHyg
— NC State W. Tennis (@PackWTennis) September 21, 2017