Lakeland, Fla. (Apr. 15, 2010) - Nova Southeastern University women's tennis team dropped a 6-2 match to Florida Southern in the opening round of the Sunshine State Conference Tournament on Thursday at Beerman Tennis Facility.

NSU, who is ranked 27th-nationally and is the sixth-seed in the SSC Tournament, now faces Saint Leo on Friday in the 2 p.m., back draw match. Florida Southern, who is ranked 14th-nationally and is the third-seed in the tournament, moves on to the semifinals. The Moccasins (17-2) face second-seed and No. 2 nationally-ranked Lynn on Friday at 12 Noon.

Federica Longo (Fr., Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Blake Bauer (Fr., Miami, Fla.) won NSU's (7-12) lone doubles point. Longo and Bauer beat out Nora Baertschi and Amanda Carns 8-6 at No. 3 doubles. Also in the doubles competition, Senka Softic and Agnese Rozite, who are ranked 15th-nationally, won 8-3 over Karolina Porizkova (Sr., Prostejov, Czech Republic) and Justine Feaster (So., Escondido, Calif.) at the No. 1 slot. Andrea Arguello and Veronika Kovacikova defeated Mary Crider (Sr., Georgetown, Texas) and Paige Lindsley (Jr., Albuquerque, N.M.) 8-5 at No. 2 doubles.

Bauer also had the Sharks' only point during singles play as she downed Carns 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6 singles.

Softic, who is eighth nationally in singles, defeated Elisa Leeder (Sr., Eisenhuettenstadt, Germany) 6-1, 6-0 at No. 1 singles. Arguello had a 6-3, 6-1 win over Feaster at No. 3 singles, while Kovacikova defeated Crider 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 4 slot. Bartschi defeated Longo 6-3, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. The No. 2 singles match between Rozite and Porizkova went unfinished.