LAKELAND, Fla.- The Florida Southern College women's tennis team opened its fall schedule hosting the Intercollegiate Tennis Association South Regional Championships this past weekend at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
"High-quality tennis is always in this region when we have numerous All-Americans and top 10 teams participating in the ITA Regionals, stated head coach
Trish Riddell. "We had high-quality matches though the weather dampened the matches in the final days. Goes to show the strength of our region when the top 10 players don't make the finals against tough competition. We wish the winners luck at the ITA Cup where our region always has great representation. Team-wise we battled really hard and had a couple of consolation finals and great wins in the main draw. Overall it was a great showing and we are on to the next one!"
This year's regional competition began on Sunday with five Moccasins participating in the singles competition round of 64. Leading the way for the Mocs is
Olivia Bryant with two set wins in the opening round against Rollins College's Milla Falster advancing Bryant to the next round.
Jolie Miller, Annika Berrendorf, Beatriz Costa, and
Ronja Scheuermann all fell short in the opening round but made a run in the consolation bracket.
In the round of 32, Bryant won another two-set win over Saint Leo University's Camilia Keller advancing her to the next round of 16 where she was eliminated in two sets ending her run in the tournament. In the consolation bracket, Costa was eliminated in the opening round of 32 falling 6-8. The remaining three advanced to the next round of 16 with Miller defeating Spring Hill College's Emma Pager 8-2, Berrendorf winning over Auburn University at Montgomery's Nahia Izco 8-4, and Scheuermann taking an 8-4 win over Valdosta State University's Kayla Greco.
In the consolation round of 16, Scheurmann got eliminated after putting up a good fight falling short 8-6. Miller and Berrendorf both advanced out of this round with Miller's 8-4 win over Palm Beach Atlatic's Ada Brown and Berrendorf with an intense matchup against Saint Leo's Luzia Obermeier winning 8(10)-7(8) tiebreaker to advance to the quarterfinals. In the next round both Mocs faced each other resulting in Miller pulling through with an 8(7)-7(2) tiebreaker to advance to the semifinals. In her semifinal match, Miller got her next win over West Florida's Sandra Recuenco Tarin 8-3 to get her a spot in the consolation finals that was abandoned due to time constraints.
In doubles, the women's opening round of 32 had three pairs of Moccasins competing in the tournament. Scheuerman and Berrendorf advanced out of the first round of 32 after defeating Montevallo's Erika Freire and Claire Jaramba 8-5 along with
Kelly Klaren, and
Kennedi Brown defeating Rollin's Sydney Eckstein and Milla Foster 8-2. The other pair
Elin Axler and
Vivien Charvatova were eliminated in the opening round but made a run in the consultation rounds.
In the round of 16, Scheuerman and Berrendorf were eliminated, ending their run in the tournament by falling 8-4. Klaren and Brown won a close tiebreaker with Lynn's Salma Djoubri and Mariia Vyshkina by 8(7)-7(4). After a close round, Klaren and Brown fell in the quarterfinals to Barry 8-3.
In the consolation round of 16, Axler and Charvatova could not be stopped. They took down Rollin's Nina Mitrofanova and Amina Dilovari Abdulloeva 8-4 and then in their quarterfinal match got another win over Montevallo's Freire and Jaramba 8-6. The Moc duo battled it out with Valdosta's Greco and Pezo winning 8-6 before falling in the final to Rollins Amina Taibi and Jiayi Liu 8-1.
Florida Southern will head to compete in the annual Mercer Gridiron Classic tournament Oct. 4-6 in Macon, Ga.
