SCF Tennis Tames ABAC

Bradenton, Fla - The #6 SCF tennis team (4-1, 1-1 Region 8) were pushed hard in their singles matches as they defeated #9 Abraham Baldwin (3-7) 7-2 at home. The Manatees are now 5-0 against the Lady Stallions overall. The Lady Stallions also played #2 Hillsborough (3-0, 2-0 Region 8) where they fell by a score of 8-1.

“Doubles was a really good performance by the girls today,” said head coach Chloe Murphy. “They came off the bats really quick. It was simple and effective quality tennis and didn’t over complicate things and got on and off the court quickly, which I was very happy with. In singles, we made things a little more difficult for ourselves on quite a few courts. I was happy for those who came back to get the win, but we have to make sure we don’t put ourselves into those situations.”

“I think overall we played really well in our matches,” said freshman Jessica Bustamante. “We all came out and played the way we played and it worked out for us.”

“I think we did a really good job in doubles based on our energy today and we didn’t struggle in it,” said sophomore Lou De Freitas Bonet. “As far as our singles, some of us didn’t have the best attitudes, but overall it was still a good match. We tried our best and gave everything we had on the court.”

Beginning with doubles, the sophomore duo of #4 Kia Carvalho-Landell and Carly Gascon Martinez defeated sophomore Tiffany-Anne Beukes and freshman Jou-Chen Chen 8-0 at #1 doubles. The duo of sophomore Lou De Freitas Bonet and freshman Sakurako Suzuki would follow by defeating the freshman duo of Yazmin Barrios and Nicole Dufour 8-2 at #2 double before the sophomore duo of Sarah Forsyth and Luna Mouton (#17 in the Nation) defeated sophomore Ellie Black and freshman Patricia Principal 8-1 at #3 doubles to complete the sweep. De Freitas Bonet and Suzuki would move to 5-0 in doubles play.

As singles play commenced, the Lady Stallions would get their first point as Gascon Martinez would fall to Dufour at the #1 singles spot by a score of 6-2 6-3 before Suzuki defeated Beukes 6-3, 6-0 at the #5 singles spot. Carvalho-Landell, who was having a difficult first set, would seal the series point as she defeated Barrios 0-6, 6-1, 7-5 at #3 singles.

With four singles matches remaining, freshman Jessica Bustamante would take her match at #6 singles as she defeated freshman Lilla Jerry 6-3, 6-4. The Lady Stallions would get their second point as Forsyth would fall to Black 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 at #4 singles before De Freitas Bonet (#12) defeated Chen in threes set at #2 singles by a score of 7-5, 6-7, 10-6 for the final match.

“My match was a tough one because it was pretty close,” said Bustamante on her match. “I had to be the last one to get the point, which could have gone the other way and I just playing my game the entire time consistently, which was how I was able to get the win.”

“The first set was really tight and I was glad I won that one,” said De Freitas Bonet on her singles match. “When the second set started, I was up 4-0 until I started making some mistakes  and couldn’t finish it and she (Chen Chen) ended up winning the second set. Once the tiebreaker in the third set started, I knew I had to win and I did when I changed up my attitude.”

Region 8 Standings:

1. #2 HCC (3-0, 2-0)

2. #6 SCF (4-1, 1-1)

3. #3 SPC (4-3, 1-1)

4. #10 EFSC (1-3, 0-2)

Up Next:

The Manatees will resume Region 8 Conference play as they travel to Tampa to take on #2 Hillsborough (3-0, 2-0 Region 8) Sunday afternoon, March 13 at noon at the HCC Tennis Center.