LAKELAND, Fla. - Florida Southern College women's tennis continued its gauntlet of high-ranked opponents on Saturday morning, falling 7-0 to Nova Southeastern University at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center. The No. 18 Moccasins (1-4, 1-2 SSC) forced two tiebreakers in singles flights against the No. 5 Sharks (7-0, 4-0 SSC) but fell just short of earning points.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- The No. 1 ranked doubles pairing in the country of Natalie Espinal and Sarah Wardenburg won 6-2 in the first flight, with the Sharks clinching the double point shortly after in the No. 2 flight as Daniela Obando and Tingting Pei won a close, 6-4 decision. Mathilda Vidgren and Lola Asis had the last word for the Mocs, as they defeated Diane Follin-Arbelet and Karolina Snita by a 6-4 scoreline in the No. 3 flight.
- Wardenburg won 6-2, 6-0 in the No. 5 flight and Pei won 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 4 flight to put Nova Southeastern up, 3-0. No. 4 Natalie Espinal won 6-0 in her first set of the No. 1 flight but barely snuck out a 7-5 victory in set two over Laura Vetter to clinch the match for the away side.
- No. 38 Obando defeated Minnie Kim by a 6-3, 6-1 decision in the No. 3 flight to put the Sharks up, 5-0.
- The Moccasins battle in the two remaining flights, as both the No. 2 and 6 flights saw the Moccasins rebound from losing the first set to force tiebreakers. Flor Salerno won 4-6 in set two after a 6-3 first set but fell 10-2 in the second flight tiebreaker to Snita. Asis won a dominant 6-2 second set after a close, 7-5 loss in set one, but fell 10-5 in the tiebreaker to Celia Montero.
UP NEXT
The Moccasins will play Davenport at the USTA National Training Center in Orlando on Tuesday before embarking on their spring break trip to Hilton Head, S.C. Southern is set to face Newberry (Feb. 29), Tiffin (March 1) and Clarion (March 2) while in South Carolina.
