Boca Raton, Fla. - The Stetson women's tennis team (5-1) won its third consecutive match on Friday, picking up a 5-2 win at in-state rival Florida Atlantic (6-4). Four Hatters were double winners on the day, including junior Sara Lazarevic (Calgary, Alta.), who clinched both the doubles point and the match-winning singles point.
Sophomore Diana Bukajeva (Riga, Latvia) and junior Jen Miller (Tampa, Fla.) got Stetson off to a strong start in doubles with an 8-2 win on Court 2 over Taylor Briggs and Justine Humair. Lazarevic and junior Clarke Tatje (Eustis, Fla.) then delivered the Hatters a 1-0 lead by beating Marlene Ryan and Natalia Tomaszewicz 8-4 at the #1 position. A short time later, the Hatters had themselves a clean doubles sweep when sophomore Lindsey Cable (Gainesville, Fla.) and senior Shannon Gunning (Boca Raton, Fla.) pulled off an 8-7 tiebreaker win in the latter's hometown over Catalina Ene and Natasha Phillips.
Cable, the reigning Atlantic Sun Conference Player of the Week, quickly put Stetson ahead 2-0 by sweeping Phillips 6-1, 6-3 on Court 5 to start the singles proceedings and remain unbeaten on the spring. Although the next point on the scoreboard went to the Owls, Tatje and Lazarevic took care of business on Courts 3 and 1, respectively, to give Stetson the four points it needed for victory. Tatje beat Natasha Basma 6-2, 6-4 while Lazarevic put away Humair by a 6-3, 6-4 score.
Bukajeva gave the Hatters their fifth and final point by rallying for a 2-6, 6-0, 6-2 three-set victory over Ene on Court 4.
"I was extremely impressed with our performance today," Stetson Associate Head Tennis Coach Chastity Bradley said. "Our singles play continues to get better every match."
The Hatters return home to the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center to host Youngstown State at 2:00 pm Wednesday, March 14. That match will be the opening act of a YSU-Stetson doubleheader with the men's match slated for 6:00 pm. Live Scoring will be available at GoHatters.com.
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