SAINT AUGUSTINE, Fla. – No. 8 Nova Southeastern women's tennis opened the spring season on a high note on Sunday at the Flagler Tennis Center, defeating No. 25 Flagler on the road, 6-1.
Doubles
- Dubbed No. 12 nationally in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) rankings, senior Ana Navas and junior Daniela Obando topped Flagler's Alesandra Traub and Paloma Martinez in the No. 1 doubles slot, 6-2, putting away the 2-0 doubles team victory for the Sharks.
- First to finish, freshman Diane Follin-Arbelet teamed with junior Isabella Lowrey in the third doubles position for a perfect 6-0 win, starting NSU toward the team win.
- Freshman Natalie Espinal linked up with junior Sarah Wardenburg, but the duo was cut short in the No. 2 slot – NSU led Flagler's Eden Schlagenhauf and Lixin Wang 5-2 at the stoppage.
Singles
- First to finish at the No. 6, Lowrey delivered the first NSU singles win, defeating Martinez, 6-3, 6-4.
- Next in and making her first showing at No. 13 in the ITA rankings, Espinal battled out a hard-fought win over Schlagenhauf at the two, capturing her first official collegiate victory in season, 6-3, 6-4.
- Moving NSU out to a 3-1 advantage in the No. 1 singles, No. 9 Navas defeated Felicitas Runkel, 6-3, 6-1.
- Follin-Arbelet battled past Traub to claim the 6-4, 6-4 win for the Sharks, and her first official collegiate dual-match victory.
- At the No. 3 singles, Obando wrapped things up for a 5-1 NSU singles win, triumphant in extra points over Wang, 6-4, 7-5.
From Coach Doug Neagle
- "Good start to the year," Neagle said. "Happy with our overall team effort. Flagler is a solid team that fights. We jumped out of the gates quick and kept it going into singles play. It's nice to see our freshmen Diane Follin-Arbelet and Natalie Espinal compete in their first official dual matches and both get wins. The team will have a nice day off tomorrow and then it's back to preparing for Valdosta State."
Up Next: The road contests continue for the Sharks in the early season, as NSU heads over the state line to Valdosta, Georgia, taking in meetings with Valdosta State on Saturday, Feb. 9 and Georgia College on Sunday, Feb. 10.