Gaio & Shelton Push a Big Ten Doubles Team to the Brink for the Second-Straight Day

Thursday, October 8

Urbana, Ill.

10 a.m.

Bowling Green State University

ITA Midwest Regional

Day-One Recap Day-Two Recap Day-Three Recap

Photo by: Scott W. Grau

Gaio & Shelton Push a Big Ten Doubles Team to the Brink for the Second-Straight Day

October 11, 2026 | Women's Tennis

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BGSU continues play at the ITA Midwest Regional

By: by Mike Cihon, BGSU Strategic Communications

URBANA, Ill. – One day after picking up a win over the fifth-seeded doubles team at the 2026 ITA Midwest Regional, Bowling Green State University's Lucia Gaio and McKenzie Shelton gave another seeded duo all they could handle.

On Saturday (Oct. 10), Gaio and Shelton suffered a narrow 8-6 loss to Ohio State's Audrey Spencer and Anna Bennett. That came after the Falcon tandem topped the fifth-seeded team in the 64-team doubles bracket on Friday (Oct. 9), having gutted out a win, 8-7 (8-6), over Michigan's Laura Rahnel and Olivia Taylor in the Round of 32

Six members of the Falcons participated in the regional, hosted by the University of Illinois. That group includes Gaio, a junior, and Shelton, a freshman, along with seniors Libby Blair and Qianyu Liu, junior Konstantina Adamopoulou and sophomore Kiera Taylor.

The regional marks the Falcons' third competition of the young season, as BGSU has participated in the Eastern Michigan Hidden Dual (Sept. 25-26) and the Rocket Invitational (Oct. 2-3) so far this fall.

BGSU's results at the regional can be found below...

2026 ITA MIDWEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Hosted by University of Illinois – Urbana, Ill.

SINGLES – QUALIFYING DRAW
Lucia Gaio
Vs. Aely Arai (Northwestern) – Lost 6-4, 6-2
Vs. Valeriia Oleksyn (SIUE) – Lost 6-4, 6-2

Libby Blair
Vs. Philippa Farber (Northwestern) – Lost 7-5, 6-3
Vs. Nicole Iosio (Illinois State) – Won 6-1, 6-3

Qianyu Liu
Vs. Ayana Yaguchi (Western Michigan) – Lost 6-3, 6-3
Vs. Esther Vrylan (Notre Dame) – Lost 6-3, 6-3

SINGLES – MAIN DRAW
McKenzie Shelton
Vs. Erica Jessel (Northwestern) – Lost 6-2, 6-0

DOUBLES – MAIN DRAW
Blair/Kiera Taylor
Vs. Sasha Sakura Stula/Clara Nilsson (DePaul) – Lost 8-6

Gaio/Shelton
Vs. Frida Weijerman/Julie Hostakova (WMU) – Won 8-7 (7-5)
Vs. Laura Rahnel/Olivia Traynor (Michigan) – Won 8-7 (8-6)
Vs. Audrey Spencer/Anna Bennett (Ohio State) – Lost 8-6

Liu/Konstantina Adamopoulou
Vs. Marta Halbersztadt/Nia Cooper (UIC) – Lost 8-2