SUMTER, S.C. - Elena Ondobo claimed the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Region title this morning after the Flagler College women's tennis team competed at the ITA Southeast Regional.

THE SERVE
Flagler competed at the annual ITA Southeast Regional tournament, held at the Palmetto Tennis Center in Sumter, S.C. Consisting of the regions elite, Flagler was represented by four singles players in the A draw (Ondobo, Sofia Balsera, Nadine Abid, Paula Berzina) and two in the B draw (Lea Jakic, Satina Tamulynas). In doubles, two pairs in Jakic/Berzina and Abid/Balsera competed in the A draw while Tamulynas/Ondobo competed in the B draw.

"This whole tournament was such a grind," Ondobo said, "this win is not just mine, but a reflection of the hard work, trust and support of the entire team. I'm super grateful to my coach for his constant support and belief in me and to my teammates for cheering me on during the matches".

"What a great weekend for Lele and our program," head coach Rodrigo Puebla said. "This one is bittersweet, as it was our last Southeast Regional". At the end of the 2026-27 academic year, Flagler College will be entering the Sunshine State Conference who competes in the South Region. "Before Elena went home this summer, she set a goal to go for this tournament. We just saw the results of her dedication and I could not be more proud of her".

DAY ONE
Heading into the tournament, Elena Ondobo[1], Sofia Balsera[9], Jakic/Tamulynas[3], were ranked in their respective draws. An exciting opening day for Flagler resulted in Ondobo and Balsera winning both their first two matches to advance to the round of 16. Jakic opened her tournament with a win over Julie Jagiella of University of Mount Olive, 6-1 and 6-1. Advancing to the second round of the B draw, Jakic met her end in a tight match break against third seeded Ainhoa Meili Fernandez of Middle Georgia State University, 4-6, 7-5 and 10-6. Tamulynas also worked her way out of the R32 with a victory over Mikayla Mckenzie of North Greenville University, 7-6(7-5), 4-6 and 10-8. Meeting her end in the R16, Tamulynas fell to second seeded, University of North Georgia representative, Teresa Popper, 6-3 and 7-6(7-4). Meili Fernandez would go on to win the B draw of singles play.

Highlighting a near perfect day one in doubles was the duo of Jakic and Berzina. Facing North Greenville's Mckenzie and Adriana Flores, the Saints advanced to the R16 with an 8-2 win. Ondobo and Tamulynas put on an even more dominat performance as they strolled out of day two with an 8-1 victory over Coker University's Alexia Ozores and Mia Islambasic.

DAY TWO
Day two opened with Ondobo facing her first seeded opponent, No. 9 Tamanna Takoria of Middle Georgia. With her second lowest scoring match of the tournament, the junior advanced to day three with a 6-3 and 6-1 win. Balsera ended her tournament against No. 2 Olesya Stokusova, 7-6 and 6-2. Jakic and Berzina remained undefeated after taking their second match 8-4 against Natalie Kirka and Rachel Black. Ondobo and Tamulynas fell to second seeded and would be draw B doubles champions, Sofia Giraldo and Sofia Gottlieb, 8-4.

DAY THREE
Two matches were played on Sunday for Ondobo. Earning her first win of the day, Ondobo defeated Runa Muderrisoglu of Lenoir-Rhyne University, 6-3 and 6-0. In the semifinal round, Ondobo faced third seeded Claudia De Lucas Rivera of Columbus State University. After going down 6-3 in the first set, Ondobo smothered the Cougar 6-0 before taking the third set 7-6(7-5).

DAY FOUR
The finals matched saw Flagler face previous No. 9 in the nation(NAIA) and fifth seeded Mayra Gisone of Middle Georgia. In a show of pure domination, Ondobo took her third match of the tournament 6-3 and 6-0 to be crowned the ITA Southeast Region champion.

KEY NOTES & STATS

• Elena Ondobo won the ITA Southeast Region for the first time in her career.
• Elena Ondobo is the fourth Saint in program history to advance to the ITA Cup in singles (Dana Heimen '25, Nadja Meier '24, Luisa Hrda '23-'22, Eden Schlagenhauf '20).
• Since the 2019-2020 season, Flagler has won the ITA Southeast Regional in either singles or doubles six times.
• Elena Ondobo is the third junior to win the ITA Southeast Regional.
• Senior Sofia Balsera tied her furthest advancement at the tournament in her career, round of 16.
• The Six Saints representing Flagler in singles ties the most amount competing at this tournament ('25).
• Satina Tamulynas earned her first collegiate victory in both singles and doubles.
• Paula Berzina earned her first win as a Saint in doubles.
• Lea Jakic competed in her first ITA Southeast Regional as she joined the program in the winter of the 2025-26 season.
• Flagler advanced atleast one doubles pair (Jakic/Tamulynas) to the quarterfinal round of doubles for the second consecutive year.