Miami Shores, Fla. (May 9, 2008) - The Saint Leo University women's tennis team (13-11) had its 2008 season come to a close with a 5-0 loss to Barry University (19-6) on Friday morning in the 2008 NCAA Southeast Regional.
Barry was the number two seed in the Southeast Region, while Saint Leo was the number seven seed. The Lions were making their first-ever appearance in the post-season after their most succesful season in program history.
The host Bucs got off to a fast start by taking all three doubles matches. The Buccaneers’ top tandem, 11th-ranked Ildiko Csordas and Caroline Stevens shutout Lina Benkirane (So., Casblanca, Morocco) and Asmaa Tazi (Jr., Casblanca, Morocco) 8-0 at number one. At number two, Angie Werschel and Helen Wisniewski closed out Shaena Keefe (So., Spring Hill, Fla.) and Taylor Cleaves (So., Norwell, Mass.) 8-2. Olivia Lilien and Berit Peterson made it a clean sweep with an 8-4 win over Veronica Queen (Fr., Valrico, Fla.) and Gina Schifano (So., Tampa, Fla.) at number three.
In singles, the Bucs got their two points at the bottom two flights. Lilien shut down Schifano 6-2, 6-0 at number five to make the score 4-0. Saskia Kruse, a late addition to the singles lineup, rallied from down 4-1 in the first set to beat Cleaves 6-4, 6-0 at number six.
With the win, Barry advances to play the winner of the Tusculum-Rollins match in tomorrow's championship with a spot in the national tournament on the line.
