MIAMI SHORES, FL - The Florida Southern women's tennis team saw its season comes to a close with a 5-3 loss to Saint Leo in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Region I Tournament held here Saturday at the Buccaneer Tennis Center on the campus of Barry University. The Moccasins end their season with a 14-8 record while Saint Leo (19-6) advances to play top-seeded Barry on Sunday at 11 a.m.
Saint Leo jumped ahead 2-1 after doubles as Marta Vicens Miquel and Andrada Gordan defeated Nina Schwab and Magda Stepnik, 8-2, at number two and the No. 25 nationally-ranked team of Madeleine Gauthier and Maja Pindelska upset the 13th-ranked duo of Sasha Nionova and Selin Devrimci, 8-4 at number one. The Moccasins' number three duo of Lorena Rionda and Natalija Popovic downed Kristyna Jurkova and Sophie Vlietstra by an 8-6 score.
In singles, Stepnik tied the match for the Moccasins with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Fabiola Cardenas while Devrimci put the Moccasins ahead 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Pindelska.
However, Saint Leo came back to take the next three singles pairings and thus, win the match. At number two, Jurkova defeated Rionda, 6-0, 6-4, to tie the match at 3-all while Gordan downed Lola Asis, 7-5, 6-2, for a 4-3 Lions' lead. Gauthier then clinched the match win for Saint Leo by edging Popovic, 7-5, 6-4.
The final singles match, pitting 46th Miquel of Saint Leo against 47th ranked Nionova of Florida Southern went unfinished.
