SALT LAKE CITY -- Northern Colorado’s Tabatha Knop and Manuela Santos got to compete in singles and doubles play last week against some of the top NCAA Division I teams at the Wilson Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mountain Fall Regional.

The duo had its most success in doubles, where the two seniors knocked off Kansas’ Kunigunda Dorn and Edina Horvath (9-8) in the first round before falling 8-6 to Boise State’s Bianca Jochimsen and Lauren Baum in the following round.

“Our doubles performance was outstanding,” Northern Colorado coach Brenda Vlasak said. “We showed up to compete hard and shocked a few people while taking down KU and almost beating Boise State. The last three games of our final doubles match, we slowed down, missed some shots we were making the entire match, and the other team just outplayed us.”

Knop and Santos both struggled in singles play. Knop automatically qualified for the main draw, following an outstanding fall season, while Santos still had to qualify to compete.

Knop failed to find her rhythm and fell 6-1, 6-0 against Utah’s 14th-seeded Anastasia Putilina and 6-4, 6-1 against Wichita State’s Laryssa Ferreira.

Santos had similar trouble in a nail-biting match against Oregon in the qualifying round. After losing the first set 6-3, she fought back and claimed a 6-4 set-two victory. She didn’t have enough steam left for the tiebreaker, though, and fell 10-6.

“Tabatha Knop had a tough first round,” Vlasak said, “and Manuela … I truly believe that if she had an earlier start in the match, the outcome might have been different. She was battling some nerves early on.”

The Bears and Vlasak will now take some time off before opening up their spring season in 2009.

MAIN DRAW SINGLES
Tabatha Knop
loss Anastasia Putilina (Utah) 6-1, 6-0
loss Laryssa Ferreira (Wichita St.) 6-4, 6-1

QUALIFYING DRAW SINGLES
Manuela Santos
loss Lancaster (OU) 6-3, 4-6, 10-6

MAIN DRAW DOUBLES
Knop/Santos
def. Kunigunda Dorn/Edina Horvath (KU) 9-8
loss Bianca Jochimsen/ Laura Baum (BSU) 8-6