Parra Romero Punches Ticket to Super Regional With Sunday Singles Win

Liberty freshman Maria Juliana Parra Romero punched a ticket to the ITA Atlantic Super Regional with a singles round of 16 triumph on the third and final day of the ITA Atlantic Regional, Sunday at the Liberty Tennis Complex.

Parra Romero won a lengthy two-set bout against Richmond’s Emily Dunbar, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to secure a berth in the ITA Atlantic Super Regional, held Oct. 22-25 at Virginia. Parra Romero improves to 6-0 in singles this season following a 3-0 weekend.

In three days of competition this weekend, Liberty posted a 9-7 mark collectively. The Lady Flames were 3-2 in doubles and 6-5 in singles.

Key Stats & Notes

• Parra Romero dominated her first set against Dunbar, winning 6-1. The Liberty freshman trailed 5-2 in set two but rallied to eventually force a tiebreaker.

• In the tiebreaker, Dunbar led 4-2. Parra Romero won five of the last six points to take the tiebreaker 7-5 and the match, 6-1, 7-6 (5).

• Parra Romero and Micaela Ode Mitre, the No. 4 seed in the doubles main draw, fell 6-3 to VCU’s No. 5-seeded Gabriela Davidescu and Shivani Manjanna in the quarterfinals. Davidescu and Manjanna move on to the super regional.

• Parra Romero and Ode Mitre finished 2-1 in doubles over the last three days. They are 3-1 as a unit, this fall.

• Liberty’s Esther Lovato, the No. 120-ranked singles player in the country, did not have to compete this weekend in the regional. She earned an automatic spot into the ITA Atlantic Super Regional and will join her teammate Parra Romero in Charlottesville in three weeks.

• The final eight singles players and final four doubles teams from this weekend’s event advance to the ITA Atlantic Super Regional.

• This is the third time Liberty hosted the ITA Atlantic Regional. Previously, the program hosted the event in 2015 and 2018. This is the first year that the ITA Atlantic Regional had been split into South and North divisions, with a Super Regional to follow.

Up Next

Liberty is back in action next weekend at the 49er Invite, hosted by Charlotte. The three-day event will be contested at Charlotte’s Halton-Wagner Tennis Complex and will run from Friday through Sunday.