DeLand, Fla. - The third-seeded Stetson women's tennis team (18-6) tied the program's all-time single-season wins record with a 4-0 triumph over sixth-seeded Mercer (7-10) in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championships Thursday afternoon at the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center. Senior Breanna Atkinson (Bradenton, Fla.) and A-Sun Freshman of the Year Carolina de los Santos (Montevideo, Uruguay) each won 8-1 doubles matches and 6-1, 6-0 singles decisions.
De los Santos and senior Valentina Galbarini (Montevideo, Uruguay), the nation's 60th-ranked doubles duo, rolled to an 8-1 win over Jennifer Lada and Amalia Bugge at #1 singles; the Hatters soon clinched the doubles point when Atkinson and senior Katherine Nowicki (Jacksonville, Fla.) took down Stephanie Cohen and Sarah Hanna by the same score at the #3 slot.
The Hatters then pulled off three consecutive straight-set singles wins to punch their ticket to the semifinals for the sixth year in a row. Atkinson beat Bugge 6-1, 6-0 on Court 3, de los Santos did the same to Lada on Court 1 and junior Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) finished it off with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Priscilla Dias on Court 4. Purushotham has won 14 consecutive singles decisions.
Stetson, which reached the 18-win mark for the first time since 1986 (the program's first season at the NCAA Division I level) advances to Friday's semifinals, where it will meet second-seeded and 64th-ranked UNF at 2 p.m. Top-seeded and 70th-ranked ETSU takes on either fourth-seeded Campbell or fifth-seeded Kennesaw State in the second semifinal at 4:30 p.m.
