FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern women’s tennis team (5-0) didn’t just pull off a big-time upset on Wednesday afternoon at the NSU Tennis Center at Rolling Hills, but the Sharks actually dominated in a big-time upset of No. 3 Lynn (2-1), sweeping the Fighting Knights, 7-0, in their first series win since 2016, snapping a seven-match Lynn win streak in the series.
A historic win for the Sharks, it was only the third victory in the 25-match series against the perennially-strong Fighting Knights. It was also the largest series margin of victory for the Sharks – both previous wins coming as slim 5-4 wins (2016, 2015). With today’s result, NSU has secured a top-3 victory in each of the past three seasons under head coach Doug Neagle – also topping No. 1 Barry in 2019 and No. 3 Columbus State in 2020.
With their commanding effort on Wednesday, the Sharks snap a 13-game Lynn win streak and hand the Fighting Knights only their second loss in the past 42 matches.
DOUBLES
- The Sharks came out firing and swept the doubles, earning the point on a race to the finish with Natalie Espinal and Chantal Nosievici over Anna Baranovski and Eliska Petrackova edging out the performances of Daniela Obando and Isabella Lowrey over Eleonore Barrere and Karyna Bihel in nearly simultaneous 6-1 victories in the first and second flights. The Sharks secured the doubles point in less than 30 minutes.
- However, the battle raged in the third flight, after Karolina Snita and Diane Follin-Arbelet jumped out to an early advantage, only to fight off the rally by Barbora Cibakova and Federica Mordegan, extending into the 3-o’clock-hour for the 7-6 (5) tiebreaker victory.
SINGLES
- The Sharks carried that same approach and momentum forward, logging first score on all six singles courts.
- Espinal went to work immediately against Bihel on court one and finished first in singles as well, extending NSU’s advantage with a 6-2, 6-1 victory.
- Snita wasn’t far behind in the second flight, wrapping up a 6-3, 6-1 win over Barrere to put NSU within sight of the victory after all but one court had secured wins in the first set.
- After the fastest singles start on the squad, Follin-Arbelet followed in victory on the No. 5 court, claiming the match point for NSU with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Petrackova.
- The dominoes continued to fall quickly, as Obando closed out a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over Mordegan on court three – topping the Fighting Knight who ranked 44th in the last 2020 player rankings.
- On four, Nosievici battled out a 7-6 (2) first-set victory that outlasted nearly all other matches, before topping Cibakova by retirement.
- Securing the clean sweep on six, Celia Montero Estevan pushed past Baranovski, 6-2, 7-5 to lock up the biggest triumph over Lynn in program history.
- The Sharks did not drop a single set to Lynn and delivered their fourth sweep in five matches this season.
UP NEXT
The Sharks are back on the courts at Rolling Hills on Saturday, hosting Eckerd (0-4) on March 27 at 2:00 p.m. The Sharks are 15-3 overall against the Tritons and have won 14 consecutive matches in the series, a winning streak began in 2007.
SOCIAL
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