WINTER PARK â€" Florida Southern got a doubles win from seniors Joalis Dominguez and Laura Wichmann, but saw 8th-ranked Rollins win three straight singles matches to secure a 5-1 win in the first round of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament. The 10th-ranked Moccasins will now await word on a possible NCAA Tournament bid, which will be announced on Tuesday, April 29.
Florida Southern (15-6 and seeded #5) and Rollins (17-5 and seeded #4) split the first two doubles matches on Thursday, with Dominguez (Vero Beach, Fla.) and Wichmann (Waldshut-Tiengen, Germany) teaming up for an 8-5 win at the No. 3 position. The Tars then took the lead when Elissa DeCampli and Ashley Rosenberg pulled out an 8-6 win over 12th-ranked junior Magda Riutort (Petra, Spain) and senior Sabine Goge (Cesis, Latvia) at No. 1.
When singles play started, Goge, Dominguez and Wichmann all took early leads over their opponents in the first set, while Mariana Salvador and Shannon Etten jumped out in front for Rollins. Salvador and Etten eventually won the first set of their matches at No. 5 and No. 3, and DeCampli came back at No. 1 to take one from Goge. Taylor Brown did the same at No. 4 against Wichmann, and Johanna Olsson put even more pressure on the Moccasins with a first-set victory over senior Pamela Paradis (Quebec City, QB).
Paradis was able to get one back for the Moccasins when she downed Olsson 6-2, but by that point, Salvador and Brown each held large leads in the second set of their matches at No. 5 and No. 4. They eventually closed them out to give the Tars a 4-1 lead overall, and Etten clinched the outcome at the No. 3 position.
DeCampli was on the verge of another point for Rollins at No. 1, but that match was left unfinished. The other two unfinished matches were in Florida Southern’s favor, with Paradis and Olsson having split two sets, and Paradis ahead 1-0 in the third. Dominguez had prevailed 7-6 (7-3) in her first set against Rosenberg but after the tie-breaker, they’d barely played in the second set, with Dominguez leading 2-1.
Florida Southern was sixth in the most recent NCAA Division II South Region poll, which was released on Wednesday just before the start of the SSC Tournament. Six teams will be selected for the regional tournament, with automatic bids going to the champions from the SSC, Gulf South Conference, and Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. The SIAC had no teams among the top six in the regional poll, but is still guaranteed a bid.
