Box Score MATCH RESULTS
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – No. 7 Nova Southeastern University women's tennis team encountered a difficult contender, the NCAA Division II ranked No. 9 Hawaii Pacific squad, on Friday, March 4 in San Diego, Calif.
The Sharks added another win to their 2016 regular season overall record, now 4-1 after a close victory over the HPU Sharks in neutral grounds. All doubles and singles matches were necessary to decide the final winner of the competition.
Hawaii Pacific took the lead by winning two of the three doubles matches over NSU. The No. 3 duet
Irina Constantinide (Sr., Galati, Romania) and
Nastassia Rubel (Jr., Minsk, Belarus) was the first match completed, which resulted in favor of the NSU Sharks with a score of 8-4.
Rubel was once again the first to win in singles matches, this time by a score of 6-3, 6-0 in favor of NSU. The Sharks had to win four of the six singles matches so far they had the first one.
Klaudia Boczova (Jr., Bratislava, Slovakia) obtained the second victory in singles for NSU with a mark of 6-1, 6-1. The intensity of the competition increased as NSU dropped two of the singles matches, but gained confidence with
Petra Jurova's (Sr., Bratislava, Slovakia) tiebreaker success 4-6, 6-4 (6-2). In the end it was all up to the last singles match to crown the final winner.
Carlee Rizzolo (Sr., Livingston, N.J.) had a strong challenger in front of her, which she also overpowered in a tiebreaker to give the NSU Sharks their third west coast tour triumph over Hawaii Pacific with a final team score of 5-4.
Head Coach
Stephen Schram stated his opinion by saying, "What a match this was! First, I would like to say that Hawaii Pacific has an incredible team and they are one of the best teams in the nation." Pleased with his team's performance he added, "I am very proud of our team, the way they competed and came back after being down 1-2 after doubles. It shows how much heart they have and I'm hoping we'll get better from this match."
NSU women's tennis will now have to travel to Azusa, Calif. for the last contest of this 2016 pacific coast journey. The No. 13 Azusa Pacific will host the No. 9 NSU Sharks on Saturday, March 5 at 3 p.m. Eastern Time (E.T.).
Stay informed with the Sharks west coast tour through NSUSharks.com!
