LAKELAND, Fla.—Barbi Pocza and Angie Werschel claimed the ITA South Region Doubles title with a 7-5, 7-6 (3) win over Lynn’s second-seeded pair of Maggie Ekert and Isabelli Raich on Sunday at the ITA Regional Championship at the Beerman Tennis Complex in Lakeland, Fla.
Pocza and Werschel will represent the Bucs at the USTA/ITA National Small College Championships, held at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala., October 14-17. They are the first Bucs to win the doubles title since Ildiko Csordas and Ana Maria Zuleta in 2005.
The Small College Championships are comprised of the eight regional champions (and/or at-large selections) from NCAA Divisions II and III, NAIA and Junior/Community Colleges.
Pocza and Werschel To Play For Doubles Title
LAKELAND, Fla.—The doubles tandem of Barbi Pocza and Angie Werschel are the last Bucs standing at the ITA South Regional Women’s Tennis Tournament hosted by Florida Southern College this weekend.
The third-seeded Bucs knocked out the #7 seed from Lynn, Ioana Ivan and Jessica Yanoff, 8-6 in the semifinals of the championship draw. The Bucs now face another Lynn duo, Maggie Ekert and Isabelli Raich for the title on Sunday.
In the singles draw, Pocza dropped a tough three-set match to Ekert, 7-5, 5-7, 10-4.
In the consolation draws, Julie Stas fell in the quarterfinals 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 to Bethania Laan of Saint Leo. In doubles, freshman duo Akemi Maehama and Lisbeth Vargas fell to Allie Steele and Stefania Tkach of Rollins in the semifinals 8-4.
Pocza Advances To Singles Quarterfinals At Women's Tennis Regional
The third-seeded Bucs knocked out the #7 seed from Lynn, Ioana Ivan and Jessica Yanoff, 8-6 in the semifinals of the championship draw. The Bucs now face another Lynn duo, Maggie Ekert and Isabelli Raich for the title on Sunday.
In the singles draw, Pocza dropped a tough three-set match to Ekert, 7-5, 5-7, 10-4.
In the consolation draws, Julie Stas fell in the quarterfinals 3-6, 6-4, 10-6 to Bethania Laan of Saint Leo. In doubles, freshman duo Akemi Maehama and Lisbeth Vargas fell to Allie Steele and Stefania Tkach of Rollins in the semifinals 8-4.
Pocza Advances To Singles Quarterfinals At Women's Tennis Regional
LAKELAND, Fla.—Barbi Pocza rolled into the singles quarterfinals of the USTA/ITA Women’s Tennis South Regional Tournament hosted by Florida Southern College on Friday.
Pocza, the tournament’s top seed, ripped through the competition in the first three rounds. In the first round, she bested Marianna Sonnervig of West Florida 6-0, 6-1. Selma Hidass of Saint Leo gave her the most trouble but fell 6-2, 6-2 in the second round. In the third round, she faced off against Nova Southeastern’s Dominique Wimmer and blanked her 6-0, 6-0. She will now face ninth-seed Maggie Ekert of Lynn in the quarters.
Sixth-seed Angie Werschel fell in the round of 16 to #13 Jessica Yanoff of Lynn 6-3, 6-3. Werschel had previously beaten Saint Leo’s Caroline Ebner (6-0, 6-0) and Nova’s Paige Lindsley (6-2, 6-4).
Caroline Wendling also fell in the third round, losing 6-3, 6-1 to Lynn’s Ioana Ivan, the third seed. Wendling knocked off West Alabama’s Katy Shoptaugh 6-0, 6-0 in the first round and upset 12th-seeded Sabine Goge of Florida Southern 6-3, 6-1 in the second round.
The two Buccaneer freshman both fell in the second round. Lisbeth Vargas beat Saint Leo’s Jeanette McDonald 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 in the opening round, but fell 6-4, 6-3 to Ekert in the second. Akemi Maehama knocked off Krishna Domenech of Palm Beach Atlantic 6-0, 6-1 in the first round, but dropped a narrow 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 decision to fourth-seed Barbara Oliviera of West Florida in the second.
Margaret Junker of Rollins stopped Julie Stas in the first round 6-4, 6-2, but Stas continued in the backdraw and advanced to the quarterfinals. She beat Nova’s Austin Lavalli 4-6, 6-0, 10-4 and Allie Steele of Rollins 6-0, 7-5 in the second.
In doubles, third-seeded Pocza and Werschel combined to reach the semifinals, while Maehama and Vargas are in the semifinals of the backdraw.
Pocza and Werschel started with an 8-2 win over Florida Southern’s Crystal Copeland and Laura Wichmann. They topped Lisa Loft and Roshni Luthra of Rollins 8-5 in the second round. In the quarterfinals, they knocked off sixth-seed Andrea Berkova and Eli Ianozzi of Lynn 8-3. They will face Lynn’s Ivan and Yanoff in the semifinals.
Stas and Wendling won their first match 8-6 over McDonald and Bethania Laan of Saint Leo, but fell in the second round 9-8 to fourth-seeded Goge and Agnese Rozite of Florida Southern.
Maehama and Vargas lost to Florida Tech’s Monica Price and Katarina Huba 9-7 in the first round, but came back through the backdraw with wins over Ebner and Samantha White of Saint Leo (8-0) and PBA’s Domenech and Amber Braaten (by default) to reach the semifinals. They will face Steele and Stefania Tkach of Rollins in the semifinals.
The tournament concludes on Sunday. The winners advance to the ITA Small College Nationals in Mobile, Ala., Oct. 14-17.