LAKELAND, Fla. – The Nova Southeastern University women's tennis team jumped out to a fast start in the opening two days of action at the ITA South Regional Championship in Lakeland, Fla., battling through top-seeded competition and challenging Florida heat to advance two singles players to Sunday's semifinal and a doubles tandem to the quarterfinal.
 
"I am so proud of these young ladies in these tough competitions, with the heat," said third-year head coach Doug Neagle. "Our freshman, Natalie Espinal beat the number one seed from Barry – the reigning National Champions – and followed up with a solid quarterfinal win. Ana Navas also gutted out a tough quarterfinal match. It's a great start to the year having two singles players in the semifinals and a doubles pair in the quarterfinals. It's awesome to see the toughness and fight in this team. The support from all the players and the team chemistry is truly helping."
 
Day 1-2 Recap
 
Doubles

• Daniela Obando and Ana Navas put NSU on the right track, topping Montavello's Maria Garcia and Anne-Christine Leu with an 8-1 advantage. The duo kept things moving forward on day 2 with an 8-3 win over Rollins' Katie Dyson and Alexandra Borg, moving into the quarterfinal.
• Isabella Lowrey and Sarah Wardenburg opened up Friday with a commanding 8-0 victory over Florida Tech's Maria Chun and Dina Dragoljic, but fell on Saturday in a tight quarterfinal to Saint Leo's Nina Furmaniak and Kristyna Jurkova, 8-6.

Singles

• Ninth-seeded 17 year-old Honduran freshman Natalie Espinal has had a great debut for her college career. She first defeated University of West Florida's Heather Mixon in the opening round, 6-2, 6-2, then followed with a win over Lynn's Eleonora Liga, 6-4 6-3. In Saturday action, Espinal advanced by defeating Florida Southern's Lorena Rionda, 6-4 6-1 and will appear in the semifinal after downing tournament No. 1 seed Verena Schmid from Barry, 6-4 7-5.
• Spanish senior Ana Navas also rolled early at ITAs, capturing strong wins over Valdosta State's Amelia Cornwall (6-0, 6-0) and Embry-Riddle's Alexis Marshall (6-1, 6-1) on day 1. Her hot streak continued Saturday, downing Lynn's Federica Mordegan (6-2, 6-2) to advance, then clinching a semifinals appearance with a three-set win over West Florida's Karolina Silwanowicz (7-5, 5-7, 10-8).
• Espinal will face UWF's Berta Bonardi in Sunday's semifinal and Navas will meet Barry's Carolin Schmidt.
• Junior Daniela Obando defeated Palm Beach Atlantic's Nicole Reich (6-3 7-5) on Friday. She earned a 6-4, 6-2 win over Florida Southern's Natalija Popovic before falling to UWF's Bonardi.
• Ivana Djordevic was eliminated in the opening round by Bonardi due to injury.
• Diane Follin-Arbelet fell in the opening round to Embry Riddle's Itxaso Blanco (6-3, 6-4), but earned a consolation draw victory over PBA's Elvira Edstrom (6-1, 6-1), and then defeated Montavello's Leu 6-3, 6-3.

Shark Facts

• The weather was challenging for all competitors, with high humidity and temperatures ranging above 90 degrees on the hard court.
• NSU went 11-3 in singles and 3-1 in doubles on the first two days of competition.

Up Next: The Sharks continue in two more days of action at the ITA South Regional Championship on Sunday and Monday in Lakeland.