Panthers Suffer 5-4 Loss to SSC Foe Tampa in Women’s Tennis

MELBOURNE, Fla.-Florida Tech falls 5-4 in Sunshine State Conference women’s tennis action against the University of Tampa. Once again, the Panthers have no
problems winning the top three singles matches, but cannot pull off two doubles win to pull off the upset.

In #1 singles action, Michaela Horvathova (Bratislava, Slovakia) easily stifled her opponent Necat Akman 6-1, 6-0. Senior Belen Pandre (Buenos Aires,
Argentina) gave up four points defeating Lindsay Pin 6-3, 6-1 in the two spot. Finally, freshman Nicole David (Fort Pierce, Fla.) battled hard to overcome
the Spartans’ Claire Darling 7-5 6-1.

The Panthers unfortunately lost the bottom three singles matches. Tech has been dealing with injuries and replacements at the bottom half of the order.
Sophomore Andrea Alfonso (Escazu, Costa Rica) who has been filling in due to injuries fell 6-1, 6-1 to Caitlin Scudder. Fellow women’s soccer player junior
Ro Hernandez (Madrid, Spain) also made her collegiate debut on the courts. Hernandez despite a valiant effort fell 6-0, 6-0 in the #6 match against Allison
Beck. Freshman Stephanie Monaco (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) fell 6-0, 6-0 to undefeated Heather Eli.

Tech’s tandem of David and Alfonso won their first doubles action of the year as a pair defeating Scudder and Katie McCabe 8-3 in #3 doubles action.
Horvathova and Monaco fell 8-3 to Akman and Beck in the #1 spot. The toughest battle of the day came at the #2 doubles match. Pandre and partner Mandy
Rohrbach (Jefferson City, Mo.), who has been fighting off a persistent injury, succumbed to Pine and Scudder in the tie-breaker 9-8.  Rohrbach
defaulting twice in the final points of the doubles set after being ahead pushed the match in Tampa’s win column.

The Panthers are back in action tomorrow at noon hosting another SSC match against Nova Southeastern at the Fee Avenue Courts.