ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. – Barry University’s No. 1-ranked women’s tennis team secured a berth in the NCAA Division II semifinals after beating No. 21 Southwest Baptist, 5-0, in the quarterfinals Thursday at Sanlando Park.
The Buccaneers (26-1) advance to Friday’s 9 a.m. semifinals against No. 5 Hawai’i Pacific (18-6). The Bearcats season came to a close at 23-4.
Barry will be making its fourth trip to the semifinals in the last five years.
The Bucs No. 3 doubles team of Karina Goia and Blanka Szavay breezed to an 8-0 win over Andjela Panovski and Paula Carvajaleno for the first win of the day. Barry’s No. 7-ranked duo of Linda Fritschken and Emma Onila also delivered a shutout, beating Mehak Singh and Lani Tuemmers, 8-0, at the No. 2 flight. Sixth-ranked Kimmy Twelker and Ana Pain carved out an 8-6 victory over No. 10 Fanni Varga and Christina Zentai at No. 1 to send the Buccaneers into singles with a 3-0 match lead.
Twelker continued her impressive singles play this season with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Zorana Jovanovic at No. 6 to put the Bucs up 4-0. Twelker improved to 14-0 this season.
Elisabeth Abanda sealed the deal with a 6-0, 6-0 sweep Panovski at No. 5.
Goia led Singh, 6-0, 3-3, at No. 2 singles when the match ended. Pain was a game away from closing out her No. 4 match with Tuemmers, having authored a 6-0, 5-1 lead.
Seventh-ranked Onila trailed 18th-ranked Varga, 5-4, in the first set at No. 1 singles. No. 23-ranked Fritschken was down, 6-5, to Zentai at No. 3.