The women’s tennis team wrapped up their fall season at the Florida Tech Panther Invitational last weekend.
The tournament was the third for the Mocs this fall in preparation for the spring slate of matches and was played in singles/doubles, not a single-team event.
Junior Carolyn Cureton and sophomore Gabby Hesse won both of their matches on the weekend. Sophomores Avery Hunter, Magda Stepnik and Lola Asis along with juniors Lorena Rionda and Natalija Popovic also turned in individual wins on the weekend.
In doubles, Popovic and freshman Nina Schwab took down Florida Tech 9-7.
In the first tournament of the year, senior Sasha Nionova was ranked number one at the ITA South Regional in Valdosta, Ga. She advanced to the semifinals before being upset by the fifth seed from West Florida.
This marked the best performance by any Florida Southern player at the event while Lorena Rionda turned in their second-best score by placing in the top 32.
The second tournament of the fall was the Mercer Gridiron Classic. Popovic did the best for the Mocs defeating opponents from Florida A&M and Kennesaw before being taken down by Troy.
Nina Schwab finished second best for the Mocs with a win over Kennesaw before falling to Troy as well.
In doubles, Selin Devrimci and Nina Schwab defeated Middle Georgia and then Emory University before falling to Troy University.
The Mocs are coming off a 12-9 season last year where they went 4-4 in conference, ultimately losing to No. 6 Barry in the Sunshine State Conference tournament.
“I am very excited for this season, we had a very good season last year,” Devrimci said. “We ended third in the conference, and I am ready to compete this spring.”
Devrimci is very excited to play this year, but hopes that more students can come out to cheer on the Mocs.
“Our matches are usually during the middle of the day, so it’s hard to come out…but they’re really fun and you can cheer as loud as you want,” Devrimci said.
The team is returning all of its members except for newcomer Nina Schwab, a freshman from Germany.
“We have Nina who’s a freshman this year, and another new teammate transferring in January. It is going to be fun to see how they handle the pressure,” Devrimci said.
Catch the Mocs in action at the University of Tampa’s Round Robin Feb. 2-4 to kick off their spring schedule. The ladies’ first home matches are Friday, Feb. 16 against Lynn at the Wynee Warden Tennis Center.
