LAKELAND, Fla. - The Slippery Rock University women's tennis team closed its time in in the sunshine state Friday with a 6-1 loss to No. 29 Florida Southern University at the Warden Tennis Center in Lakeland, Florida.
 
While The Rock's overall record moves to 3-6 following the result, the mark includes two losses to nationally ranked Division II teams as well as three setbacks against Division I opponents. The Mocs improve to 9-2 with their win.
 
Slippery Rock and Florida Southern traded doubles wins to open Friday's match.
 
Ronja Scheuermann and Emily Jennewein earned a 6-3 victory over Amaia Balaguer Brau and Tina Slovak from the second flight followed by a 6-4 Rock win out of the top flight by Nicole Kempton and Alissia Kivi against Kelly Klaren and Kennedi Brown.
 
However, FSU was able to capture the first point of the contest when Annika Berrendorf and Jolie Miller closed out the doubles portion of the match via a 6-2 triumph against SRU's No. 3 pairing of Dari Sakhanova and Georgie Lancaster.
 
Individually, Friday's win improved Kempton and Kivi's record to 16-4 overall and 6-2 in dual matches.
 
Florida Southern followed the doubles point by clinching its ninth victory of the year with five consecutive singles wins.
 
In a meeting between nationally ranked athletes, No. 37 Olivia Bryant edged 28th-ranked Balaguer Brau in first-flight competition 6-2, 6-2.
 
The back portion of FSU's singles lineup then sewed up the team victory. Klaren bested Lancaster from the sixth slot (6-2, 6-1) while Jennewein defeated Sakhanova (6-3, 6-3) in the fifth flight.
 
Kempton and Slovak both fell in narrow decisions in the match's later stages as Scheuermann edged Kempton out of the third flight in a 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 result while Berrendorf got the better of Slovak in the fourth flight 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-5).
 
Kivi salvaged the day for The Rock courtesy of a solid 2-6, 7-6, 6-1 comeback victory over Beatriz Costa from the second flight. One of the top freshmen in the Atlantic Region, Kivi exits the Florida trip in possession of an 11-6 singles record that includes a 5-4 mark in dual matches.
 
Slippery Rock will look to return to its winning ways when it hosts West Virginia Wesleyan College 12 p.m. March 22 at the SRU Tennis Courts.




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