PENSACOLA, Fla. – Facing its biggest South Region test to date, the No. 7 Nova Southeastern tennis squad scrapped out a 5-2 victory at No. 8 West Florida on Wednesday at the Ralph "Skeeter" Carson Tennis Complex, extending the Sharks' record to 9-0 and a matching win streak. With the win, the Sharks also match their win total over each of the past two seasons.
Doubles
- Squaring off against 2017-18's national runner-up in the Argonauts, NSU dropped its only doubles team point loss of the season.
- Although the No. 1 tandem of senior Ana Navas and junior Daniela Obando were bending toward a win, the Argos beat them to the punch in the third flight for the doubles point.
Singles
- First to the finish, junior Sarah Wardenburg started the momentum moving in NSU's direction, rolling to a 6-0, 6-1 win over Valeria Mantilla in the fourth flight.
- Freshman and ITA No. 13 player Natalie Espinal also came through with a little cushion for the Sharks in the second flight, earning a 6-2, 6-0 win over No. 29 ITA Karolina Silwanowicz to go up 2-0.
- Moving NSU out to a 3-0 singles advantage, freshman Diane Follin-Arbelet defeated Diana Vlad at 6-3, 6-3 in the fifth flight.
- Rebounding from the rare NSU doubles loss and securing the team win, Obando battled past Gabriela Araujo for a 7-5, 6-4 match-point victory
- Sophomore Chantal Nosievici earned the final singles win in defeating Heather Mixon 6-3, 7-5.
- Although ultimately taking the loss, Navas took the nation's top individual player Berta Bonardi to a 10-8 tiebreaker in the third set.
From Coach Doug Neagle
"We won 5-2 against a very tough team in a very tough place to play," Neagle said. "They were national runner-up last year for a reason. I'm so proud of our entire team effort today! Our team is all buying in and it showed in our play today."
Up Next: A busy week continues at the Carson Tennis Complex, as NSU faces South Region opposition on Friday and Saturday against Mississippi College and West Alabama, respectively.
