WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- Senior captain Joanna Atwater and junior Ally Friedman advanced to the Doubles round of 16 and Friedman advanced to the "A" Singles draw round of 16, highlighting a strong first day Friday at the ITA Regional Championships for the Bates women's tennis team.

As one of the top 16 seeds in the field, Atwater (Short Hills, N.J.) and Friedman (East Hampton, N.Y.) received a bye to the Doubles round of 32, where they defeated Middlebury's Amanda Frank and Nina Farhat by a count of 8-7 (6) in a thriller. The pair will take on the Wesleyan duo of Renna Mohsen-Breen and Katie Fleischman Saturday at 9am in the round of 16. 

Senior captain Laura Littlefield (Ellicott City, Md.) and senior Grace Kennedy (New York, N.Y.) teamed up to defeat the Babson team of Grace Starcher and Morgan Mann in the round of 64 by a count of 8-6. However, the duo fell 8-1 in the round of 32 to the seeded Williams pair of Mia Thompson and Katherine Orgielwicz. 

In the "A" Singles draw, Friedman defeated Bowdoin's Cara Hung 6-1, 6-1 in the round of 64. She followed that up with a 6-0, 6-4 upset victory over fifth-seed Bhakti Parwani of Brandeis. With the pair of wins, Friedman advances to take on Wesleyan's Sarah Youngberg in the round of 16 Saturday at 11am. Meanwhile, Atwater fell 6-1, 6-2 to Middlebury's Claudia Miller in the round of 64 and will play Mount Holyoke's Jaskirat Kaur in the "A" Singles consolation bracket on Saturday.

Littlefield also had success in the "B" singles draw on Friday, defeating Connecticut College's Sana Bhat by a count of 8-3. Littlefield will play Babson's Marianna Campos in the round of 16 Saturday at 9am.