WINTER PARK – Florida Southern, ranked 40th in the nation, upset 34th-ranked Rollins, 6-3, to close out the regular season and earn a spot in the six-team Sunshine State Conference Tournament next weekend.
The Moccasins, 12-8 overall, finish league play with a 4-4 record to earn the fifth seed in the tournament which will be played April 28-30 at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. Fans can follow all the action at the SSC Tournament Central Website. Rollins, 11-8 overall, will face Florida Tech on Friday for the final spot as both squads are 2-5 in the conference.
Florida Southern took two of the three doubles matches to grab a 2-1 lead, starting with the number one team of Linnea Skymberg and Selin Devrimci which defeated Carli Davis and Shannon Etten, 8-1. Sasha Nionova and Lorena Rionda then defeated Johanna Olsson and Teresa Kaiser, 8-6, at number two. Rollins avoided the sweep as Emma Wookey and Fabiana Vitanza stayed off FSC's Natalija Popovic and Miroslava Mensikova, 9-7, at number three.
The Tars evened the score at 2-all as Vitanza recorded a 6-2, 6-1 win over the Mocs' Katie Stanford at number six singles. Popovic put the Mocs back ahead 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Kaiser in the fourth flight while Devrimci gave Florida Southern a 4-2 lead as she defeated Fuller 6-3, 6-4 at number three.
Rollins held on for one more point as Olsson got by Carolyn Cureton, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 at number five.
Rionda then lifted FSC to the match victory with a 6-2, 6-2 at number two singles over Davis. Skymberg the punctuated the Moccasin victory with a 6-3, 6-7, 10-6 upset at number one singles over Etten, the number 33 ranked player in the NCAA Division II.
