The men’s tennis team finished up their play for the fall semester this weekend in the Mid East Region ITA Championships at the University of North Carolina.
Fernando Fiuri, Oscar Posada and Felix Insaurralde represented the Bucs at the tournament. Posada was seeded 13th for the tournament thanks to his national ranking.
Insaurralde was eliminated in the round of 128 after one match. Liron Strauss from Wake Forest defeated Insaurralde in straight sets (6-3, 7-6 (5)).
Fiuri was also eliminated from the tournament in the first round. He dropped his match to Henrique Cancado of Old Dominion (6-3, 6-2).
Posada had a bye for the first round because of his 13th seed. In second-round action Posada was defeated by Stephen Amritraj in a 6-4, 6-3 battle.
The singles finalists and the doubles champion will advance to the ITA National Indoors Nov. 5-9 at the University of Michigan, for the first of three National Championship Tournaments to be played this year. The final championship will be played May 21-30.
The Bucs are now looking to the spring season.
The Bucs open up the spring season against Virginia Commonwealth in late January. The Bucs will host their first home game of the year in early March against Florida A&M over at the tennis courts on campus.
The Bucs will also begin conference matches in the spring season.
The Bucs are the defending Southern Conference champions.WOMEN’S
The Lady Bucs had Sylwia Ziolkowska, Mariia Ilina, and Sandie Knight all make it into the main draw of the ITA Southeast Regionals this weekend.
The Lady Bucs’ three players entering gave them more participants than any other SoCon team.
Knight was defeated in her first round match against Barbara Orlay (3-6, 6-4, 7-5). Orlay came into the tournament ranked 69th in the nation and was able to get a No. 12 seed.
Ziolkowska was defeated by Jena Long of UNC Chapel Hill in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) in a tough match.
Ilina’s match against Karin Coetzee of Wake Forest was also just as difficult of a match. Coetzee defeated Ilina also in straight sets of (6-1, 6-1).
The doubles team of Ziolkowska and Ilina won their matches in the first and second round against both Davidson (8-5) and Winthrop (8-2). In third round action the girls pair was defeated by the Duke team of Kristin Cargill and Jenny Zika, (8-4). Ziolkowska and Ilina made it all the way to the final 16 teams.
The Lady Bucs now look to the USC Tournament in Colombia South Carolina next weekend.
The tournament will wrap up the fall semester part of the season for the Lady Bucs.
The Lady Bucs will play on Nov. 13 at home in the Alumni Match before taking a break.
The Lady Bucs open up the spring season in Richmond, VA., against William and Mary and then Richmond in late January.
The Lady Bucs will begin conference games in late February at Elon.

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