FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 10 Nova Southeastern University tennis team has their second in-conference battle with a top-five team this season as they host the No. 5 Lynn Fighting Knights Monday afternoon at the NSU Tennis Center, the first of two home matches in three days.
The Sharks (10-0, 3-0 SSC) and Fighting Knights (11-1, 2-1 SSC) begin at 2 p.m. Monday afternoon, and then on Wednesday at 2:30, the team will welcome in No. 33 St. Edward's University (7-1) out of Austin, Texas.
As part of their 10-0 start, on March 1, the Sharks topped then-No. 3 Saint Leo on the road. It was a 5-4 decision, NSU's third Sunshine State Conference victory in a row. Since, the team won all three of their Spring Break matches in Orlando, and returned home a week ago Monday to sweep Division I Butler, 9-0.
First to Fort Lauderdale is Lynn, whose only loss so far came to that same Saint Leo squad, also on the Lions' home courts (6-3). The Fighting Knights have won their last seven matches and took their other two conference matches, shutting out both Tampa and Eckerd.
Two Lynn singles players are 10-0 to start: Martina Gledacheva and Rosalie Willig, the latter having eight of her 10 wins come in the No. 2 slot. Willig is also 2-0 at No. 1, with the ITA's preseason No. 1 player in DII, Vale Confalonieri, going 7-1 in the remainder of the matches in the top draw. Willig slotted No. 20 in those rankings.
Doubles-wise for the Fighting Knights, Confalonieri and Gledacheva took the No. 5 ranking in the preseason, but have not yet been paired together. Confalonieri is a combined 10-0 with two different partners (5-0 with Willig at No. 1 and 5-0 with Carolina Cuevas in the No. 2 slot); Gledacheva is 8-2.
NSU's Wednesday opponent, St. Edward's, dropped their first match of the spring to Air Force (6-1), but has subsequently reeled off seven straight wins. The Hilltoppers will have one more match prior to meeting up with the Sharks, taking on Palm Beach Atlantic (ranked a slot ahead of them at No. 32) on Tuesday. They feature the preseason No. 49 player in DII, Brooke Hughes, as well as the No. 24 doubles combo, Hughes and Sasha Khadzhyan.
Hughes is 3-2 in singles in the team's No. 1 slot, with Khadzhyan a combined 6-0, five wins coming at No. 2. They are 6-0 as the team's top doubles duo, and overall, Hilltopper doubles are 15-3 thus far this year.
For the Sharks, singles competitors are a combined 50-7, and the first through fourth slots are 35-3.
Irina Constantinide (Jr., Galati, Romania) continues to have a flawless mark and is the only Shark to gain a singles point in every match at 10-0.
Petra Jurova (Jr., Bratislava, Slovakia) is 9-0 in singles and 10-0 in doubles, going 5-0 with both Constantinide and
Sabrina Kierberg (Jr., Munich, Germany). In addition, Kierberg has tallied a 7-1 mark in the No. 1 singles draw. The winningest doubles combo so far for NSU has been
Alexandra Johansson (Sr., Sydney, Australia) and
Alex Kaeser (So., Woodstock, Ga.) with a 9-1 mark.
