ST. AUGUSTINE - The No. 6-ranked (ITA Division II Top 50) Flagler College women's tennis team defeated No. 7 University of Nebraska-Kearney, 6-1 this afternoon at the Pollard Tennis Center.
Flagler improved to 10-2 overall while Nebraska Kearney dropped to 9-3. Flagler heads to Orlando, Florida and the USTA National Tennis Center on Thursday to face Angelo State University at 11 a.m.
Doubles featured the No. 6 and No. 45 ranked doubles pairs from the Lopers. In the first win towards the doubles point,
Sofia Balsera and
Adela Latalova had the most convincing win over Clare Plachy and Fabiana Gamboa, 6-2. The final win and first upset of the day came from
Dana Heimen and
Anastasia Nikolova over No. 6 Tanya Midzi and Narindra Ranaivo, 7-5.
The ranked wins continued to roll in, as the Saints went five-for-six in singles, with three of those against ranked Lopers. Balsera pulled in a 6-0 and 7-5 match against Masha Hatouka to give the Saints their second point of the day.
Eryka Kruk put the Saints up 3-1 in her 6-4 and 6-3 win against Plachy. In the game clinching match, Nikolova upset No. 59 Ranaivo in three sets. Nikolova took the first set 6-2 then rounded out a perfect set three, 6-0.
Both Heimen and Latalova's matches went into a three set tie break with both Saints coming out on top. In set one of Latalova's match against No. 74 Midzi, the freshman lost 7-6 (8-6) but quickly bounced back with a 6-1 second set. To cap off her match, Latalova took the match 10-3. The final win came at the hand of No. 4 Heimen against No. 9 Gamboa. Taking the first set 7-6 (7-3), Heimen sent the Lopers home in a 10-5 third set.
