FORT LAUDERDALE. Fla. – After a slight delay due to weekend weather, the No. 5 Nova Southeastern Sharks women's tennis team will take the court on Tuesday (Feb. 4), kicking off the fourth season under head coach Doug Neagle against No. 13 Flagler at the NSU Tennis Complex at Rolling Hills.
 
The Sharks are returning all but one senior from a roster that produced one of the best seasons in program history, tying the 2007 squad for the most program wins with a 22-5 record. In addition, the 2019 Sharks earned their first Sunshine State Conference Championships runner-up finish, hosted an NCAA South Regional, earned a postseason victory and Neagle was named the program's first SSC Coach of the Year. The team went 115-34 (.772) in singles play and 53-20 (.726) in doubles, garnering wins over nine nationally ranked opponents – facing off against definitively the toughest tennis conference in the nation.
 
Losing Ana Navas to graduation (11-3 singles, 11-3 doubles), the Sharks are led by super sophomore Natalie Espinal, who enters the season ranked No. 4 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) NCAA Division II singles rankings). Espinal (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) went 20-5 in a phenomenal rookie campaign that saw her named ITA South Region Rookie of the Year, SSC Freshman of the Year, with All-SSC singles first team honors and All-SSC second-team doubles honors. Returning alongside her doubles partner, senior Sarah Wardenburg (Waikato, New Zealand) was All-SSC second-team doubles and finished 17-6 in singles and 19-4 in tandem with Espinal. The pair enter the 2020 campaign as the first NSU doubles to be ranked No. 1 in the nation after winning the ITA Cup's NCAA DII Championship in Rome, Ga. this fall.
 
Entering her final season as a Shark, senior Daniela Obando (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) doubled with Navas last spring with first team All-SSC doubles and second team singles honors. Obando was 13-2 in singles and 13-4 in doubles overall and ranks No. 38 nationally in singles entering 2020. Junior Diane Follin-Arbelet (Lyon, France) went 19-6 in singles and 6-2 in doubles.
 
Some offseason player additions from the Division I ranks – specifically from the Sun Belt Conference – is expected to bolster the Sharks lineup in the new year. One such addition has already been proven, as Troy-transfer Celia Montero Estevan (Santiago de Compostela, Spain) went 3-1 in singles and 4-1 in doubles this fall to earn her place in the lineup. The sophomore came to Fort Lauderdale after going 17-13 in singles and 14-14 in doubles for the Trojans as a rookie. Teammate Tingting Pei (Kunming, China) was 9-7 in the top two doubles flights for Troy, also making a 14-17 singles record at No. 2 and is a sophomore for the Sharks. The final newcomer is Karolina Snita (Glogow, Poland) out of Louisiana Monroe. A junior for NSU, Snita was 17-5 in singles, 14-9 in doubles in 2017-18 to earn second team All-SBC in both sides for the Warhawks.
 
The Sharks lead off with the Flagler Saints for the second straight year, downing the FC crew 6-1 last February in St. Augustine to spark a 14-match win streak to open the season. The Saints were 17-7 last season, advancing to the NCAA Southeast Regional second round and closing out ranked No. 18 by the ITA. A young team in 2019, the Saints main replacement is for Felicitas Runkel, who went 13-10 in singles. They are led by Eden Schalegenhauf, who ranks No. 14 after a 15-7 singles, 15-9 doubles rookie campaign – she reached the singles final at the ITA Southeast Regional this fall and was the 2019 Peach Belt Freshman of the Year. Junior Anika Nissen ranks No. 28 and was 17-3 singles, 16-4 doubles to earn All-PBC second team honors in both. Sophomore Lixin Wang went 16-6 singles, 16-3 doubles as a rookie to team with Nissen for second team All-PBC honors and starts the year ranked 36th in singles. Paloma Martinez and Allesandra Traub are the 21st-ranked doubles pair after an 8-5 record together in 2019.
 
First serve between the Sharks and Saints is set for 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday at the NSU Tennis Complex at Rolling Hills. Over the weekend, NSU will travel to Valdosta, Ga. for meetings in back-to-back dates with Georgia College and Valdosta State.

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