CARY, North Carolina - The doubles tandem of Miller Hales and Kelly Cameron won their first match in the main doubles draw as the UNCW women's tennis team opened play Thursday in the USTA/ITA Carolina Regional Championships at Cary Tennis Park.

Overall, the Seahawks went 3-5 in singles and 1-1 in doubles on the first day of the four-day event, which hosts players from North Carolina and South Carolina and serves as the qualifier for the ITA National Indoor Championships.

Hales and Cameron outlasted Davidson's Brites Moniz-Soares and Elaine Cummer, 9-8 (8) in their first match in the main doubles draw. In another match played Thursday, N.C. State's Sophie Nelson and Taylor Zaytoun topped Alyssa Ritchie and Christine Kharkevich of UNCW.

In tomorrow's action, UNCW's Angle Sekely and Olga Blank will take on South Carolina's Alex Martin and Ximena Siles and Hamilton Lovett and Christina Riley will play East Carolina's Melis Tanik and Nicole LaDuca.

In qualifying singes action Thursday, Blank stopped Western Carolina's Karen Jimenez 6-1, 6-3, before losing to UNC Greensboro's Annette Rios, 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3, and Cameron rolled past Zaytoun, 6-4, 6-4, but lost to Winthrop's Ekin Gunaysu, 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-3.

Winthrop's Alice Garcia handed Hamilton Lovett a 6-0, 6-0 defeat, while Riley dropped a 7-5, 6-2, verdict to South Carolina's Josefin Andersson.

Kharkevich split a pair of matches on the day in her first regional appearance. She knocked off George Washington's Ronia Hutlerli, 6-3, 6-4, before falling to N.C. State's Elisha Hande, 6-1, 6-0.