PENSACOLA, Fla. – Nova Southeastern women's tennis sophomore Natalie Espinal delivered a huge victory personally and for the program, moving on to the final day of competition at the ITA South Regional Championships at West Florida, earning a Sunday victory over the nation's top-ranked player, UWF's Berta Bonardi.

Singles Play
Securing victory over the biggest opponent of her young career, defending Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year Espinal topped Bonardi. 6-4, 6-0, in a rematch of last year's ITA semifinal. The reigning No. 1 NCAA Division II player in the nation, Bonardi has only seen defeat one prior match – this is the first time she's been defeated on a completed match. Espinal is now 5-0 on the tournament and enters the finals against Barry's Jil Engelmann on Monday at 10:00 a.m. Engleman went 21-1 last year as a multi-flight contributor to BU's third consecutive National Championship. This marks the second consecutive year with a Sharks player in the finals, following Ana Navas' 2018 performance.

Doubles Play
Espinal was joined by partner senior Sarah Wardenburg in the doubles quarterfinal, falling in a tight 8-6 final after rallying from a 5-0 deficit against Barry's Aleksanda Razafinfranaly and Daniela Farfan. Also in the quarters, seniors Daniela Obando and Isabella Lowrey fell to Lynn's top-seeded pair, Ulyana Grib and Valeriya Pogrebnyak in an 8-5 loss.
 
In total this weekend at ITAs, the Sharks team record stands at 14-6 after three days of action.

Direct From Coach Doug Neagle
"Natalie came back from summer break in great shape, and she's been wanting this tournament. A well-deserved win today that she earned with hard work. She is hungry, humble and I know she's not satisfied yet. Still work to do and we will all be supporting her tomorrow!"