LAKELAND, Fla.—It came down to the final match in a battle of Top 10 Sun Conference women's tennis foes Friday afternoon.
A back-and-forth battle was settled by a three-set match at No. 5 Singles, won by Southeastern sophomore
Irene Lopez to give the Fire a 4-3 win and their second league win of the year and the first over the Bobcats since 2020.
The doubles point favored St. Thomas in three tightly contested matches with the Bobcats taking Line 1 7-5 and Line 3 6-4.
Micah Sypert and
Priscila Baptista were a 7-5 winner at Line 2.
Martina Picardi tied the match with a shutout win at Line 2 singles to move to 6-2 on the season and
Simone Simas gave the Fire the lead with a 6-2, 6-4 win at Line 6 for her third singles win of the year. Wins at Nos. 3 and 4 put St. Thomas within a match of victory.
Beatrice Letizia won the Line 1 match 6-2, 6-4 to even the match at three.
Lopez took her first set by the score of 6-4 but Jamison Geoffreys took the second 6-3. Lopez cruised in the third set 6-1 to clinch the match. Lopez improved to 6-3 on the year.
The Fire will host top-ranked Keiser tomorrow at 1 p.m.
