BRADENTON, Fla. – The fourth-seeded Nova Southeastern women's tennis team (19-3, 7-3 SSC) will open competition on Friday (April 26) afternoon on the courts at IMG Academy in the quarterfinals of the Sunshine State Conference Tennis Championships. The Sharks will open up with a 3:30 p.m. matchup against No. 5 seed Florida Southern (15-6, 6-4 SSC).
 
When the Sharks and Moccasins met on March 29, a then-sixth-ranked NSU defeated then-No. 12 FSC, 5-2 at the NSU Tennis Complex.
 
Coming in at fourth in the latest South Region rankings (Florida Southern at fifth), the Sharks have collected 14 of their 16 NCAA DII wins against in-region foes and are ranked No. 6 nationally in Wednesday's Intercollegiate Tennis Assocation (ITA) standings. The Sharks hold an 80.3 percent (106-26) win percentage in singles competition this season, while NSU is 46-14 (76.7 percent) in doubles.

With the Sharks projected to be back at full strength after some injury setbacks, NSU is in the midst of the second-most-winning season in program history, generating the best team performance since the 22-win 2007 campaign. Ranking as high as ninth, Ana Navas comes in at 38th in the ITA singles standings this week after missing action since the end of February – she's 8-2 on the year. Mixing between first and second flights all season, 17-year-old freshman Natalie Espinal is 17-3 on the season and a team-best 4-2 against ranked foes – coming in at 28th in the ITA rankings.
 
Encroaching on Ulia Talalenko and Tsippy Waterman's 2007 program-best 20 individual wins, sophomore Chantal Nosievici and freshman Diane Follin-Arbelet lead the Sharks in victories at 18-2 and 18-4, respectively – both making appearances in five different flights due to injuries. Just behind, junior Sarah Wardenburg is at 16-6 and junior Daniela Obando is 12-2.
 
Although they haven't made an appearance as a tandem since Feb. 21, Navas and Obando (9-1) still rank 18th nationally in doubles, while Espinal and Wardenburg (15-3) come in at 29th.
 
The winner between NSU and FSC on Friday will move on the semifinal to face the victor between No. 1 Barry (19-1, 9-1 SSC) and No. 8 Embry-Riddle (7-12, 3-7 SSC), who play at 3:30 p.m. as well. Saturday's semifinal is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. The final and third-place matches are set for Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
 
With Nova Southeastern hosting the neutral-site tournament, live stats will be available for each match in both the women's and men's championship. The opening-round NSU-FSC live stats can be viewed HERE and live results for all other matches (including subsequent rounds) can be found on SSCStats.com.
 
Check out the Sunshine State Conference's Championship Central page to stay up with all the action. For daily postings: follow the Sunshine State Conference on Twitter & Instagram and stay up to date with the event hashtag: #SSCTennis. Photo galleries from the tournament will be posted on Facebook.