FREDRICKSBURG, Va. – Carolina Dirk (Port Aransas, Texas) represented the Guilford College women's tennis team well, competing at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Women's Southeast Regional Championship, hosted by the University of Mary Washington, finishing by splitting her matches over the weekend at the Hegmann Family Courts.

The ITA Regional Championship sees the top programs in the southeast send their very best players in a 64-player, single-elimination format, played from Friday through Monday. With 21 teams sending 21 championship bracket representatives, it is a major measuring stick used for regional rankings as well as other accolades come the spring, while in the short-term, it pits the best against the best, potentially for the only time until conference or national tournaments.

The first Quaker to compete at ITA's since a collection of players ventured to Georgia to play in the fall in 2019, the 2026 First Team All-ODAC honoree drew a conference foe in the opening round, playing Washington & Lee University's Mary Kate Kahl. Dirk and Kahl battled deep into the match with the Guilfordian coming back to outlast the General, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5) on Friday night. Dirk got what ended up being a brutal draw in the round of 32, in Swathmore College's Riley Williams. The eventual tournament quarterfinalist saw her toughest test of the weekend as Dirk pushed her to the limit on Saturday afternoon, with the match finishing 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 1-0 (10-7).

Guilford competes in their final tournament of the season next, on Friday, October 2, as they head up to Sweet Briar College to compete in the Battle of Blue Ridge Tournament. First serve for the tournament is set for 9:00 AM.

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