Tallahassee, Fla. ? Sophomore Valentina Galbarini (Montevideo, Uruguay) played well in both her singles and doubles matches against top-ranked competition but the Hatters fell 7-0 to 21st-ranked Florida State Sunday on the road. Stetson falls to 0-3 on the season with all three losses coming against teams ranked in the top 30 nationally.
Galbarini was able to win two games in each set in her #1 singles match against the highest ranked foe any Hatter has faced in the 2007-08 season, Katie Rybakova, the 16th-ranked player in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The result of the match was 6-2, 6-2 for Rybakova.
Galbarini also teamed with freshman Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) at #1 doubles, where the duo battled Lauren MacFarlane and Jessica Wente into a tiebreaker before falling 8-7. In other doubles action, sophomores Natalie Gorham (Miami, Fla./Palmetto HS) and Katherine Nowicki (Jacksonville, Fla./Bartram Trail HS) lost 8-3 at #2 to Carolin Walter and Federica Suess while the #3 doubles match resulted in an 8-3 loss by sophomore Breanna Atkinson (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch HS) and junior Katherine St. Clair (West Palm Beach, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) to Bonny Davidson and Tapiwa Marobela.
Two of the five other singles matches saw Hatter players contend with nationally ranked Seminoles. Purushotham lost 6-1, 6-0 to #60 Walter at #3 singles while the 74th-ranked Marobela took down Gorham 6-1, 6-2 at #4 singles. Freshman Megan Jones (Miramar, Fla./Broward Virtual Education) lost 6-1, 6-1 at #5 singles to Ania Rynarzewska while Suess beat senior Catherine Canady (Jacksonville, Fla./Bolles School) 6-1, 6-0 at #6.
The Hatters are back in action this Saturday, Feb. 9 when they open Atlantic Sun conference play at league newcomer Florida Gulf Coast. The match begins at 1 p.m. in Fort Myers, Fla.
