DURHAM, N.C. – North Carolina Central University sophomore Isabelle Exsted (Savage, Minn.) felt right at home during the 2022 NCCU Invitational at the Dr. James W. Younge Tennis Courts on Oct. 7-9, and came away with the C flight championship at the event.
 
Exsted won the flight without dropping a set, although she was nearly pushed to a tiebreak twice.  She defeated Daniela Koleva of Tennessee State, 6-1, 7-5, to advance to the semifinal round, and then moved to the championship round after her opponent retired in the first set.  Exsted won the first set of the championship match, 7-5, over Linden Patterson from Davidson, and then closed out the victory with a 6-1 second set.
 
Alejandra Hidalgo Vega (Madrid, Spain) advanced to the semifinal round of the A flight, before she was defeated in a close three-set match with Josephine Schaffer from Davidson.  Hidalgo Vega dropped the first set, 6-2, but rallied to take the second, 6-4.  Schaffer was able to outlast Hidalgo Vega in the tiebreak, 10-5, to move on to the final round.
 
Lafi Joao (Gaithersburg, Md.) reached the quarterfinal round of the C flight after a 6-2, 6-2 win over Sevval Oszeker from Shaw, before she was defeated in three sets by Patterson, 6-0, 4-6, 10-1.  Maria Picazo Martin (Madrid, Spain) narrowly missed the quarterfinal round of the B flight after a three-set defeat to Camryn McClure of Radford, 6-3. 4-6, 10-5.
 
Kennedy Hill (Tyrone, Ga.) paired with Hidalgo Vega in the A flight doubles draw, and were defeated by the duo of Alexandra Evdokimova and Amber Fuller from Norfolk State, 6-3, prior to the quarterfinal round.  Joao and Exsted teamed up in the B flight, and similarly were defeated before the quarterfinal round by Chetna Kumari and Prerana Koirala from Shaw, 6-4.
 
The Eagles will now prepare to compete at the ITA Carolina Regional in Winston-Salem on Oct. 13-17.