WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The No. 8 (ITA Division II Top 25) Flagler College tennis team defeated No. 19 Wingate University 4-0 this evening at the Wake Forest University Indoor Tennis Center in a NCAA Division II preliminary round women's tennis match.
Flagler improved to 20-5 overall.This is the second meeting between the Saints and Bulldogs this season. During the ITA Indoor Championship, the Saints defeated then No. 8 Bulldogs, 4-2. Wingate closed out their season with a 17-6 record. Tomorrow the Saints will play No. 6 Catawba College at 12 p.m.
The Saints took a hard-fought doubles point to give themselves an early edge. No. 3-ranked
Dana Heimen and
Anastasia Nikolova took the first win of the day against Chloe Kosmrlj and Daniela Kotara, 6-3. A loss on court three set up a tense match between
Laura Jipescu and
Adela Latalova against Suzuka Sambyakugari and Claudia Vallejos. Going into a 6-6 tiebreak, the Saints were down 5-3 but made a crucial four point rally to win the set 7-6 (7-5).
In singles the Saints remained dominant. No. 40
Anastasia Nikolova took the first win against Castillo Fernanda 6-1 and 6-2.
Eryka Kruk followed immediately after, taking her match against Vallejos 6-2 and 6-1. The sealing match came from No. 8 Heimen against Kosmrlj, 7-5 and 6-3.
Prior to the stoppage,
Sofia Balsera won her first set 6-1 and was leading 1-0 in set two against Gigi Hinson. Jipescu was up 4-1 against Mariia Bobrovska and Latalova was in the third set of her match against Sambyakugari.
