WEST PALM BEACH – Florida Southern freshman Natalija Popovic downed Taylor Conti, 3-6, 7-6, 6-0 at number five singles to give the 40th-ranked Moccasins a 5-4 upset victory over #38 Palm Beach Atlantic here Saturday at the Mitch Gornto Tennis Center.
Florida Southern (8-5) took two of the three doubles matches to take a 2-1 lead into singles. The Moccasins' number two doubles team of Selin Devrimci and Lorena Rionda downed the Sailfish duo of Kathi Tesar and Conti, 8-6, while FSC's Nina Vucevic and Miroslava Mensikova topped Teona Tatishvili and Michaela Mignemi, 9-7, at number three. Vucevic and Mensikova were both playing in their first match of the spring season. Palm Beach Atlantic got their first point of the match as Valerie Nagovitcina and Maja Jovic defeated Sasha Nionova and Linnea Skymberg, 9-8 (7-5) at number one.
Rionda beat Jovic, 6-0, 6-1, at number five singles for a 3-1 Moccasins lead, but the Sailfish countered with a 6-4, 6-0 win by Mignemi over FSC's Carolyn Cureton at number six. Nioniva then put Florida Southern within one point of the win with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Tesar at number one.
Palm Beach Atlantic (8-7) turned the momentum with wins in the next two singles matches as Nagovitcina downed Skymberg, 6-2, 6-3 at number two while Tatoshvili beat Devrimci, 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 at number three singles to tie the match at 4-4 and set up Popovic's match-clinching win at number five.
Florida Southern plays again tomorrow at 11 a.m. at Barry University in Miami Shores.
