MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- Barry University women's tennis team beat future Sunshine State Conference member Embry-Riddle (Fla.), 8-1, Sunday at Buccaneer Tennis Center. The win was the second in as many days for the Bucs, who opened the season yesterday.
Ranked No. 3 in NCAA Division II, Barry won all of the doubles matches and the top five singles flights on a day Kimmy Twelker secured the clinching point with her 6-2, 6-3 win over Anna Gotz at No. 2 singles.
"For me, it's really great to play because I was injured a lot last year," said Twelker, who did not play singles in Saturday's opener. "(As a team) we're really motivated. I think it's going to be a good season when we keep going like this."
Barry sophomore Elisabeth Abanda, who entered the spring with a No. 9 NCAA Division II singles ranking, beat NAIA No. 9-ranked Hui-I Huang, 6-1, 6-4, at No. 1 singles in her first singles victory this year as well.
Bucs freshman Blanka Szavay was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over No. 27 Kristina Marova at No. 3 singles.
Barry senior Cristina Valladares, who sat out last season, won her first match since 2012 when she held on to win a second set tiebreaker, beating Eva Vilar, 6-1, 7-6 (8-6), at No. 4.
"I'm really happy for Cristina because she was out a long time," Twelker said. "I saw her play (in her match) a little bit, and she did good. She was motivated, and she fought for every point. I'm happy for her."
Bucs senior Akemi Maehama was a 6-0, 6-2 winner over Meena Bennett at No. 5. Freshman Jasi Witherspoon lost her first college dual match to Embry-Riddle's Paula Couder, 6-1, 6-3, at No. 6.
Barry's No. 1-ranked doubles tandem of Emma Onila and Linda Fritschken were impressive in an 8-2 win over NAIA No. 1-ranked Huang and Marova. Abanda and Isabela Miro were 8-4 winners over Gotz and Paola Montero at the No. 2 pairs flight. Karina Goia and Anaeve Pain defeated Vilar and Couder, 8-3, at No. 3.
Barry will host No. 11 Florida Southern Saturday at 10 a.m.