The seventh seeded Fire took four hours to take their second round match against #10 Westcliff with
Simone Simas notching the final blow in a thrilling three set victory, granting the Fire a 4-2 win and passage to the quarterfinals.
Doubles was an example of how the match was going to be. Line one was a fight between Southeastern's
Flaminia Guidantoni and
Ingrid Montserrat and Westcliff's Elena Gunfaus and Anna Masip. Westcliff finished off the Fire in flight one 6-3, however the Fire turned it around winning two electric matches in flights two and three.
Martina Picardi and Simas won in flight two in extras 7-6 (10-8), coming back from a 6-3 deficit in extra points. While
Irene Lopez and
Neleah Neiberline came from behind to claim a 7-5 victory in flight three granting the Fire the initial point in the match.
The first singles match to finish was line four as
Ingrid Montserrat dominated her match with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Kanon Sorakubo. Westcliff bounced back with a win in line one, finishing with Masip winning over Picardi 6-4, 6-4 to make a 2-1 contest in favor of the Fire.
Line three came back in Southeastern's favor with Guidantoni winning over Shayee Sherif in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4. This put the Fire ahead 3-1, one point away from clinching.
The Warriors of Westcliff staved off elimination with a line two victory from Gunfaus, as she came back in three sets to defeat Neiberline 5-7, 6-0, 6-2.
The excitement and stress of the match came in lines five and six as both matches went to three sets. Simas fought all the way to the final serve, coming back from 5-4 in the second set to push the Fire through to the quarterfinals with an exhilarating 2-6, 7-5, 6-3 victory in line five over Emilse Ruiz. When asked about her game clinching win, Simas said, "I just fought through it, I was fighting for my team."
"Credit to Westcliff they're a really good team," said coach
Drew Dickens. "If it's going to come down to one match and it's Simone, we completely trust Simone to pull out a big win for us and she did."
Line six was unfinished in extras in the third with Westcliff holding a 3-6, 6-3, 6-6 (6-2) lead.
With the win the Fire move on to tomorrow where they will face the all to familiar Keiser Seahawks at 1 p.m. CT.
