MACON, Ga. - The Florida Southern College women's tennis team continued its fall schedule by competing in the Mercer Gridiron Classic. Mercer University hosted the event this past weekend at the Randy Stephens Tennis Center in Macon, Ga.
The Mocs had nine athletes competing:
Olivia Bryant, Laia Pasini, Ronja Scheuermann, Beatriz Costa, Neli Sunjic, Jolie Miller, Vivien Charvatova, Kennedi Brown, and
Kelly Klaren, all competing in the singles. FSC also had four doubles pairings: Klaren and Charvatova, Pasini and Miller, Sunjic
and
Brown, and Costa and Scheuermann.
In singles competition, Pasini and Brown both led the Mocs advancing all the way to the final. Pasini defeated Kennesaw State's Taylor Dean 6-4, 6-1 in the opening round, Georgia College's Jada Young 6-3, 6-1 in the quarterfinal, and the University of Tampa's Julie Ball in the semifinals. In Brown's flight, she took down Georgia State's Sveva Bernardi in the round of 16, with a dominating 7-6, 6-0 finish. Brown continued to take down any opponent that came in her way including Jou Chen Chen (6-1, 6-0) in the quarterfinal and Kendall Hall (6-1, 6-3) in the semifinal. In the final, Brown didn't go down without a fight, falling in the tiebreak 4-6, 6-3, 3-6.
Bryant continued her success from opening weekend, defeating Auburn-Montgomery's Ane Ibarra in the round of 16 6-1, 6-3. Bryant advanced to the quarterfinals where she battled against Kennesaw State's Ema Barianakova falling in the rally.
In Flight A2, Schuermann won her first match in the round of 16 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Tampa's Kristina Miletic. With the win, Scheuermann advanced to quarterfinals taking down Kennesaw State's Izabelle Persson on the way to the semifinal with an intense 6-3, 7-3 win. In the semifinal, Scheuermann was just short of the victory, falling to Mercer's Marina De Diego Quinones 7-6, 6-3.
Sunjic and Charvatova defeated both their opponents in the round of 16 to advance to the quarterfinals but fell just short and would move into the Northwest consolation draws.
For doubles competition, the duo of Pasini and Miller and Costa and Scheuermann both won the quarterfinal to advance into the semifinal. Pasini and Miller fell to local rivals and top-ranked Tampa 8-6, while Costa and Scheuermann battled to an 8-5 loss against Alabama State just missing the final.
Florida Southern will head to the Nova Southeastern Invite Oct. 27-29 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to close out the fall season.
