Barry University’s No. 1 women’s tennis team will play at No. 5 Lynn 11 a.m. Saturday to decide the Sunshine State Conference regular season title in Boca Raton, Fla.
This is the first year the league is recognizing a regular season champion.
“We’re looking forward to the match,” Buccaneers coach Avi Kigel said. “We know Lynn is a very good team. I think (in the next poll) they’re going to be No. 4 in the country. We’ve always had really tough battles with them. I don’t think it’s going to be any different for our match tomorrow.”
Barry enters the match with a 19-1 overall and 7-0 SSC rcord. The Bucs sport a 19-0 mark against NCAA Division II opponents. Lynn is 20-1, 7-0.
Saturday’s match is available via LIVE STATS through the Fighting Knights website.
Lynn features the No. 1-ranked player in the country in Val Confalonieri. She and Ioana Ivan are ranked No. 1 in doubles. Ivan is No. 12 in singles. Lynn’s Andrea Berkova is ranked 36th in singles, and Rosalie Willig 46th.
Barry’s top singles player is Emma Onila, who is No. 7 in the nation. She and Linda Fritschken are No. 6 in the country as a doubles team. Karina Goia is No. 10 in singles, and Linda Fritschken is No. 43. Kimmy Twelker and Ana Pain are ranked No. 25 in doubles.
“We’re always looking for good matches,” Kigel said. “We respect their program. We hope to have a good showing, and hopefully come up with the win. We know we’re going to have a tough match, and we’ve got to come ready.”