A stellar season for Southeastern women's tennis has given them a first-round bye in the NAIA National Tournament.
The #7 Fire return to the NAIA National Tournament after being ranked in the top ten all season long, standing as high as third. Southeastern finished the season 14-6 with a runner-up finish in the Sun Conference Tournament and two less losses than the 2023 season.
Two ranked teams and two ranked individuals call Southeastern home,
Martina Picardi ranks the highest in singles play with 6-8 overall record playing the toughest of competition on line one. In doubles Picardi joins forces with #54 singles player
Simone Simas and they run as the #25 doubles team in the NAIA with a record of 10-4 on flights one and two.
Flaminia Guidantoni and Ingrid Montesrrat are a force on flights one and two in doubles play, ranking 43rd overall with a 10-4 record. Guidantoni operates mainly on line three in singles, but has seen time on line two, her record is 9-3. Whereas Montserrat dominates line five with her only losses in her 11-2 record coming to DII #10 Embry-Riddle and #4 Tennessee Wesleyan.
Line two sees action from
Neleah Neiberline and line five is run by Simas who is 8-3.
Irene Lopez worked line six for nearly the entire regular season, while also seeing some time on line five turning in a 7-3 record.
The flight three of doubles is where Lopez plays with either Neiberline or Martinez. Between the two teams is a 5-7 record.
Southeastern is seeded seventh and await the winner of #10 Westcliff and #23 Morningside. When asked how one prepares for an unknown opponent, coach
Drew Dickens mentioned, "It is tricky, but sometimes that's better than seeing the team you have played 100 times. We don't know them and they don't know us."
That has been the case for the Fire this season as they are 7-3 against out of conference opponents this season. Southeastern is also 7-5 against ranked opponents, with all the losses coming to top ten competition with wins against #4 Middle Georgia State, #4 Tennessee Wesleyan and #5 Xavier (La.)
When asked how he was preparing the women for the tournament, Coach Dickens had a heavy focus on the doubles play. "Doubles has been a huge strength of ours, when we have won the doubles point we haven't lost many matches."
Simas had some thoughts to share on the team's success this season, "It's the connection we have, we really like to spend time together off the court, and that translates onto the court, making us play for each other."
Westcliff (13-9) comes into the tournament ranked 15th in the NAIA and seeded tenth. They come in fresh off of a GSAC Tournament victory, with a 7-1 home record, however the struggle for the Warriors has been on the road as they have a 5-8 record away from home.
The Warriors have played six ranked opponents and have emerged victorious only twice, seeing Keiser and Xavier (La.) in those contests, two opponents with whom the Fire are very familiar.
Westcliff is home to a ranked doubles team and three ranked singles players. Anna Ruiz Masip ranks the highest at 18th, Kanon Sorakubo follows at #59 and Elena Gunfaus ranked 70th. Masip and Gunfaus play together in doubles and find themselves ranked 26th with a 12-7 record.
Morningside is the other potential competitor for the Fire, the Mustangs are powered by newcomer Line Jensen who was recently awarded ITA Rookie of the Year and ranks 32nd overall with a 19-3 record.
Morningside, fresh off of a GPAC Conference Tournament win rally behind Head Coach Alex Struck who was named GPAC Coach of the Year as well as ITA Coach of the Year for the central region.
All games are played at 2 p.m. ET over the course of the five day NAIA National Tournament, games start on Tuesday and the Fire play their first game on Wednesday having received a first round bye.
Should the Fire win, they could see either #2 Keiser or the winner of #15 Indiana Wesleyan or #18 William Woods.
