FULL RESULTS

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. - The No. 11 ranked Valdosta State women's tennis team used a complete team effort to topple the No. 20 ranked Florida Southern Mocs, 5-4, in a thrilling opening round matchup in the South Region 1 Tournament on Monday at the Buccaneer Tennis Center in Miami Shores, Fla.

Laura Ubeda joined Estes Widdershoven at No. 3 doubles to kick the match off on the right foot with a convincing 8-3 win over Lorena Rionda and Natalija Popovic. Anja Cosovic and Daniella Barta held momentum for the red and black with an 8-4 win over Selin Devrimci and Lola Asis at No. 2, before the Mocs salvaged doubles play with an 8-6 win for Sasha Nionova and Linnea Skymberg over Bea Morales Hernandez and Anke Poncelet at No. 1.

Barta extended VSU's lead to 3-1 with the first singles point of the afternoon, after she took down Asis, 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 at No. 6. Florida Southern returned fire, however, and with wins for Rionda over Ubeda (7-6 (7-4), 6-1) at No. 3 and Popovic over Poncelet (2-6, 6-1, 6-1) at No. 5, the Mocs tied the match up at 3-3.

Sabrina Schmidt put the Lady Blazers back in front at No. 4 with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-3 win over Devrimci, but the streak of tight matchups continued at No. 2, and FSC tied it right back up when Skymberg knocked off Cosovic, 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4).

The 4-4 gridlock turned all of the attention to No. 1 singles, where No. 9 ranked Morales Hernandez became the days heroine after recovering from 5-3 deficit in the third set to force and win a tiebreaker (6-4, 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-1) over Nionova for the match win.

With the win, Valdosta State advanced to the South 1 Regional Final, where the team will square off against Barry at 3:00 p.m. Live coverage can be accessed right here at www.vstateblazers.com.