DeLand, Fla. ? The Stetson women's tennis team (12-5, 7-1 Atlantic Sun) took a major step towards securing one of the top seeds in the upcoming A-Sun championships with a 4-3 win over visiting ETSU (9-6, 6-1 A-Sun) at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center on Thursday. Junior Valentina Galbarini (Montevideo, Uruguay) earned a three-set win over nationally 123rd-ranked Yevgeniya Stupak at #1 singles to seal Stetson's fifth consecutive overall win and sixth straight against an A-Sun opponent.
Stetson took a 1-0 lead out of the gate by securing the doubles point. Galbarini and sophomore Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) cut down Stupak and Paula Jamie by an 8-1 score at #1 doubles while senior Katherine St. Clair (Palm Beach, Fla.) and freshman Shannon Gunning (Boca Raton, Fla.) beat Vita Moskaliova and Tara Sheets 8-6 in the #3 position. Juniors Breanna Atkinson (Bradenton, Fla.) and Katherine Nowicki (Jacksonville, Fla.) made it a clean sweep with their 9-7 win over Tara Byrne and Karina Kedzo in the #2 slot.
When the action shifted to singles, Gunning and sophomore Jacqueline Faulk (Port Charlotte, Fla.) earned straight-set wins at the bottom of the lineup to push the Hatters within one point of victory. Gunning beat Sheets 6-1, 6-3 at the #5 spot while Faulk rolled past Andra Voinea 6-4, 6-3 at #6 singles. Byrne defeated Atkinson in straight sets to make it a 3-1 match but Galbarini sealed the deal with a hard-fought 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win over the two-time First Team All-Atlantic Sun selection. Kedzo and Jamie won three-set matches to bring the Lady Buc point total to three.
Galbarini's victory is the first by a Hatter against a nationally ranked singles opponent this season; Stetson beat ETSU for the first time in six tries since the Lady Bucs joined the league three years ago.
The Hatters host league unbeaten USC Upstate in their conference finale at 2 p.m. Saturday, looking to continue their push towards a regular season championship and/or the #1 seed in the A-Sun tournament.
