GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- In a battle of natives from Mexico, Shawnee State men's tennis player Daniel Cristobal emerged victorious in a singles match over Johnson (Tenn.)'s Miguel Sanchez Loo to highlight action for the SSU men's and women's tennis programs Thursday as part of the 2025 ITA NAIA Men's and Women's Southeast Regional Championships, which were held at the Lackey Tennis Center in Georgetown, Ky.
Cristobal, who came out of the Round of 128, overcame a 6-4 opening set defeat to Sanchez Loo, who had a solid 23.7 World Tennis Number (WTN) coming in, by claiming a 6-0 win in the second set to even the match.

The senior then overcame a deficit in the tiebreaker to win, 10-7, and advance to the Round of 64. Sanchez Loo was Johnson's No. 2 singles player throughout much of the 2024-25 season.

At that stage, Cristobal dropped a match that was closer than the set scores appeared, as the senior fell to Bethel (Tenn.)'s No. 2 throughout the 2024-25 season in Gabriel Itikawa Perini. Itikawa Perini, who hails from Brazil, entered the match with a 19.8 World Tennis Number (WTN).

In additional performances on the men's side, Aiden Pine and Santiago Andres Rodriguez Berrera, the latter competing in his first match with Shawnee State, each took a game from their respective competition in Georgetown's Luke Curry and Johnson's Lennart Kleeberg. Aidan Gray received a bye into the Round of 64 before falling at that position.
In doubles play, Cristobal and Rodriguez Berrera took a game from Cumberlands (Ky.)'s doubles tandem of Gabriele Solda and Darius Kuster in the Round of 32 before falling by a 6-1 set score in a strong showing for both Cristobal and Rodrigues Berrera against stout competition.

Solda and Kuster, who both hold World Tennis Numbers under 16, have gone 13-4 in doubles play since being paired up with one another in mid-March 2025 and played together during Cumberlands (Ky.)'s NAIA National Tournament appearance in the sport in 2025. They helped Cumberlands finish as the No. 2-ranked program in the NAIA's Southeast Region and seventh nationally from an ITA perspective in 2025.

Gray, along with fellow doubles partner Ethan Hawks, also received a bye into the Round of 32 before falling at that juncture.
On the women's side, Shawnee State's Miranda Johnson was able to advance into Friday's Round of 32 in the singles bracket after her competition from Brescia (Ky.) was disqualified.

Johnson, along with doubles partner Marissa Justice, advanced to Thursday's Round of 16 following a Brescia disqualification, then took a game from Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)'s Heyka Rodriguez and Maria Ange Ortega Mateu before falling in yet another competitive showing from the Bears despite a 6-1 setback.

It was another good acquittal from a Shawnee State doubles pairing -- as Rodriguez herself was a 2025 NAIA All-American, and Rodriguez and Ortega Mateu have been key cogs to a Lindsey Wilson program that finished as top-ranked women's program in the NAIA's Southeast Region and third nationally in 2025 from an ITA standpoint.

Newcomer Kathryn Nelson also faired well in her Shawnee State debut, taking two games from Indiana-Southeast's Kate Halbig before dropping a 6-0, 6-2 decision.