FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 5 Nova Southeastern tennis team (17-2, 6-2 SSC) suffered a rare 2019 defeat, and the lone sweep of the year, as the short-handed Sharks squad fell to newly-crowned No. 1 Lynn on Wednesday afternoon at the NSU Tennis Complex. The Fighting Knights snapped a seven-match home win streak for the Sharks, dating back to last season.
In the latest ITA rankings that came out just before the match, Lynn jumped from fourth to first, while the Sharks moved up to fifth. Four of the top five spots in the nation belong to Sunshine State Conference schools.
Doubles
- Two sets of NSU doubles have seen limited action together, but gave the Fighting Knights a tough test, as No. 2 pair of sophomore Chantal Nosievici and junior Isabella Lowrey battled Federica Mordegan and Eliska Petrackova before falling 4-6. Freshmen Diane Follin-Arbelet and Caitlyn Khan challenged Giorgia Pigato and Eleonora Liga with a 4-6 finish in the third flight.
- The Sharks dropped only their third doubles team point of the year on Wednesday.
Singles
- Junior Sarah Wardenburg produced one of the toughest matches of the day in No. 4 singles, coming up just shy in the 10-12 first-set tiebreaker of the 6-7, 3-6 loss to Petrackova.
- In the third flight, Nosievici ended her run at 16 matches as the final NSU primary not to drop a match, falling to Mordegan, 3-6, 2-6.
- With three players out of action, four of NSU's singles were playing up one slot from their common flight position.
From Coach Doug Neagle
"We ran into a very talented team today," Neagle said. "The new rankings came out today and Lynn is No. 1 in the country for a reason. We won't hang our heads in this one loss, because that's exactly what it is, one loss."
Up Next: With three regular season matches remaining, the Sharks are off the court for the next few days, returning to action at the NSU Tennis Complex next Wednesday (April 10) against St. Thomas, ahead of a Sunday Senior Day meeting with Eckerd. The regular season concludes on the road at No. 2 Barry.
