LAKELAND, Fla.—The Southeastern University tennis teams will host their first match of the year on Saturday at the
Edgewood Tennis Center against SCAD-Savannah.
Southeastern Men:
The Fire enter the match with a 1-3 record, but have faced a tough slate with two Top 25 teams and an NCAA Division II squad. Through four matches, the Fire have gone 3-1 at #1 singles with
David Veliz off to a 2-0 start, and
Felipe Barbosa also picking up a win at the top of the lineup. Barbosa is off to a 2-1 start to his career in his first year at SEU.
Southeastern will be looking to score consecutive wins against the Bees for the first time in program history, following last year's upset of then-No. 19 SCAD.
Southeastern Women:
Sitting at 2-2 to start the year, the Fire will look to build the momentum gained from a pair of wins during their trip to Alabama. The Fire knocked off Spring Hill College 8-1 and beat Loyola (La.) 8-1.
Melanie Dodd,
Morgan Logue,
Madeline Wills, and newcomer Sarienne Ricardo have all recorded two wins in singles play to start the season.
The Fire will be looking for its first win over SCAD in program history.
SCAD Men:
The Bees narrowly defeated St. Thomas in their first match of the spring, coming away with a 5-4 win at home. SCAD went 2-1 during doubles play with a 9-8 loss at #1 being the only setback. In singles, the Bees got wins from Yulin Liu (#3), Josh Tewes-McCoy (#5) and Daiki Naka (#2) to secure the match. The Bees open the 2017 season receiving votes in the NAIA Top 25.
SCAD Women:
The unanimous Sun Conference favorite enters the week at 1-1, and will face Webber International on Friday before taking on Southeastern. The lone loss on the year was to NCAA Division I Georgia Southern 4-3. The Bees are ranked third in the preseason NAIA Top 25 and have four singles players ranked in the nation's top 50 as well as two of the top 25 doubles teams in the ITA rankings. Reigning conference player of the year Camille Gbaguidi enters the season ranked first in the ITA singles rankings, and is 14-0 all-time in Sun Conference play. The junior from Berlin holds a 31-2 career record in singles. Julia Albuquerque (#18), Eika Weber (#39), and Paige Murdock (#46) are also players to keep an eye on. Murdock and Gbaguidi are ranked third in doubles.
Doubles play begins at 1 p.m.
