Looking Back to the SCF 2019-20 Athletic Season

As it sits, the 2019-20 athletic season for State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) has come to a close early due to the pandemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). It truly is upsetting for not just for myself and all the coaches and athletes that were playing their sports in the spring, but for the sophomores that worked their tails off to compete, and now it's been tarnished.

This was not only happening to SCF and the junior colleges in the FCSAA, but it is also happening to other junior colleges nationally in the NJCAA (D1, D2 and D3) as well as colleges/universities in the NCAA (D1, D2 and D3), NAIA, California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), Association of Christian College Athletics (ACCA) and Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC). In total, over 2,000 junior colleges and universities (2,291 to be exact) had to stop the seasons of their spring sports because of COVID-19. We're talking about over 10 million student-athletes not being able to play their final year(s) of eligibility this year as a result.

I could sense a lot of pain for all the athletes at SCF that are sophomores and are unable to play in the spring because of this pandemic and I understand it sucks, but I guess in a way it is for our own safety.

On a positive note, in a statement by the NJCAA, they indicated that, "no spring sport student-athlete who was enrolled at a member college in 2020 will be charged a year of participation." This will preserve the season of eligibility for beach volleyball, baseball, softball, and tennis.

Now what does it mean for the remaining 24 sophomores for baseball, softball, tennis and beach volleyball? Will they get their final year of eligibility back? Will they be listed as 'redshirt' sophomores? The answer to that is yes they will get their final year of eligibility back as the NJCAA will give back all spring sports their eligibility, but as far as being dubbed as 'redshirts' I'm not sure.

The thing is it will take a good amount of time to put all the pieces together before making final decisions on what should happen, but as it looks at the moment, the 24 combined sophomores will get their one remaining year of eligibility back and do have the option to stay and play for SCF or continue on with their current paths.

But to steer on a positive path of the 2019-20 athletic season, let's look back and talk about some memorable moments that the Manatees have produced for all six sports along with the stories I wrote about them.

SCF Indoor and Beach Volleyball:
Lets begin with indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. Yes, the past five seasons have gone down for the SCF indoor volleyball team and they did finish 5-19 overall with a 2-4 record in the Suncoast this past season. Originally, they were 3-23 overall with an 0-6 record in conference play, but they moved to third place in the Suncoast standings, and the reason why SCF moved from last place to third in the Suncoast was because of St. Pete College. SPC had an ineligible player that played during the season. The old saying is this: "You cheat, you're out."

We even played Florida Southwestern in their inaugural season despite falling to them in both matchups.

The first story I did on the volleyball team was on their season schedule released where I talked about who they were facing and the players to introduce.

One of SCF volleyball's memorable moments came from sophomore Sydney Jaco when she reached 1,000 digs in her career in a win against the Webber International junior varsity team. Jaco ended up finishing 1,230 career digs at the end of her sophomore year and was named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team and a five-time member of the FCSAA 25 Dig Club. All-in-all, Jaco finished her career as a 21-time FCSAA 25 Dig Club for the Manatees, a one-time All-Suncoast First Team, two-time All-Suncoast All-Academic Team and one-time NJCAA National Player of the Week.

With volleyball, I was even able to do two stories on two of the players, Jaco and freshman Leilani Wilcox-Nanai. Truthfully, they were nervous about having a story on them while I was nervous on starting the interviews with them. In fact, Jaco and Wilcox-Nanai were the first players I did an interview with on the win during Jaco's milestone.

Some of my favorite moments from the 2019 season with SCF indoor volleyball included doing the national anthem for their sophomore night and giving one of the assistant coaches and the players goosebumps despite the loss to Monroe College, but the most memorable was when Jaco, Barbora Tichackova, Lisa Jaunet and Emily Sauceda all came to see me at Maple Street and eat there too, which meant a whole lot to me. (*Link in description)

Now with the addition of beach volleyball, they finished their campaign 3-0 for their inaugural season, even if it was cut short with the majority of the team from the indoor team. I guess in a way, the inaugural season was just a taste of what to expect for next season.

I was so thankful to meet the several newcomers in the freshmen in Wilcox-Nanai as well as the others (Jaunet, Bailey Sikkema, Jazmin Spencer, Brooke Henry, Gracee Carpino, Noelie Claude and Britzy Lucas) and I'm also thankful to meet the returners in Jaco as well as Tichackova, Sauceda, Daviya Bernard and Hannah Strickland). They all made such an impact for SCF volleyball, but I know that where they go, the journey leads them to their success.

SCF Basketball:
I look back to my first story on the SCF basketball team on a preview of the Manatees playing Gordon State College at home. Before I got started on it, I first decided to meet the head coach for SCF, Tom Parks. He seemed like a really good guy. Truthfully, he reminded me of a taller version of Brock Erickson, which actually led to me being a little intimidated by him.

After the game against Gordon State, Parks was the first person I did an interview after the game on the win and at first I was a little nervous, but it worked out well in the end. When the first Suncoast Conference game at home against SPC commenced, I got Parks's comments, of course, but then I also got then sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe and then freshman D'Moi Hodge and their take on the game.

I remember in one of the stories against Hillsborough, Park said a meaningful message on my stories.

"I just want to thank you Pat for doing this because I think it's unbelievable with your passion and the fact that you come and support us every game with your notebook writing stats and how serious you take this. It means a lot to our program and we really appreciate your support and writing about us on your blog. It really means a lot to us."

"1st Herd" finished the 2018-19 season 18-15 overall with a 6-6 Suncoast record. Heading towards the postseason, mainly the Suncoast Conference Tournament, coach Parks considered me as a member of what he dubbed as "1st Herd". I never asked where the idea came into play for that, but I guess the old saying is "Some things are just better left unsaid... for now".

Fast forwarding to this year and it was very memorable. I mean to start it off, we had the debuts of seven players. Truthfully, this season and last season were the best seasons that SCF Basketball has had in a long time as we finished 21-11 overall with a 5-7 record in the Suncoast. The 21 wins were the most we had in program history. We won the Suncoast Conference Tournament and made it to the FCSAA State Tournament for the second straight season before falling in the first round of the state tournament to Tallahassee (TCC).

One of the big moments from the 2019-20 season for SCF basketball team came off the shot of Hodge where he set two scoring records: most points in a single season and most career points. Hodge broke and set both records during the Suncoast Tournament. I even got to travel with the team for the game and cut a piece of the net after the win, even if we had to cut it at Hal Chasey Gymnasium.

From my personal favorite moments with SCF Basketball, I have two special ones that were very heartfelt and meaningful.

The first was being able to travel with the basketball team for the Suncoast Championship was one of them. It truly was the first time I ever got to travel with any team from SCF, thanks to coach Parks pulling a couple of strings to have me join the team on the road and being able to cut a piece of the net after claiming the tournament.

The second one was two days after winning the Suncoast Tournament when I asked the entire basketball team to come to an open house ballroom dance party at Wilson's Dance Sport International for a night of dancing, food and fun in which they said they would. At first I was a little worried if they weren't going to come, but the entire team and student assistant David Peck were true to their words and they all came, participated in the fun group and danced the night away, which made my night. We all even got a photo together and even got a complimentary dance lesson for participating. Honestly, they all did really well on the dance floor (*Link in description).

There are some sad parts from this season. Of course, it was seeing D'Moi Hodge, Isiah Dasher, Chris Scarborough, Remy Robert II and Max Bell-Ramos having to end their careers and parting ways from SCF, but it was also sad that I will not being able to see the debut of Jean-Pierre "JP" Frederick at SCF because of a series of issues while trying to transfer from another college in Saint Lucia (his native country) that had no sports whatsoever. As a result, he has to transfer to a four-year college. It really is sad because I was really looking forward to seeing him play this season at SCF, but regardless, I know he'll do phenomenal at the higher and I'll support him no matter which school he goes to.

2nd Herd has ended for 2019-20, but 3rd Herd will be in session with Marshall Kearing, Sam Grayson, Jordan Clark, Michael Gavin and Calvin McCutcheon returning to the team for their sophomore campaigns as well as the debuts of walk-on players Rae Miller and Christian Nieto, who redshirted last season. I also look forward to seeing the debuts of Kwo Agwa, Michael Hatcher, DK Kelly, Javon Bell, Keenan Willie, Joe Stubbs and Luke Lecroy when they arrive to SCF for their true freshmen years.

SCF Tennis:
Although this year for SCF tennis wasn't as promising as the 2018-19 season, they all worked hard on the court despite going 2-7 overall with an 0-5 record in conference.

I was able to meet the newcomers which included Karla Menendez and Martina Shakhnazarova, and got to see the returners that included Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Brie Botsford and Mackenzie Vraspir. In fact, I wrote feature stories on Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford.

I'm remembering the first story I wrote on the SCF tennis team was on their season home opener against Southeastern University (NAIA) for the 2018-19 where they won 8-1. There were the debuts of Ramirez-Goncalves, Botsford and Zeba Jamal. Vrsapir and Alexis Booker didn't play that year as they redshirted. During that season, I didn't have my first postgame interview with coach Chloe Murphy until after the matchup against Broward and didn't interview a player until their shutout win over St. Catherine (NCAA DIII) when I interviewed Ramirez-Goncalves. Arguably, Ramirez-Goncalves was the only player I did a postgame interview with from both seasons.

The 2018-19 season was a big one for the tennis team. They went to nationals for the first time in two seasons and they finished first tied for fifth place out of 32 teams with Ramirez-Goncalves reaching the semifinals in her flight and Jamal and fellow alum Camile 'Cami' Portalier winning the consolation doubles championship.

This season was a lot different and it's going to be different without Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford on the squad next season since they were the only two true sophomores on the squad (unless they decide to stay), but it's always going to be like that for any sport.

SCF Softball:
So let's start with the obvious, softball was on a rough patch this season going 1-3 in the JUCO Kickoff Classic to start it off before sweeping Santa Fe to go to even before going on a six-game winning streak with victories over Lake Sumter, ASA Miami (home opener) and Palm Beach State. They then went on a seven-game winning streak and won six out of eight games from their eight-game homestead before sweeping Lincoln Land CC to close off the season at 20-12. The softball team was unable to start Suncoast Conference play due to the coronavirus.

The main part of writing about the 2020 season for SCF Softball was based on head coach Mandy Schuerman as she was aiming for her 200th career win as head coach for the softball team. With softball, the 200th win I think was going to be one of my best stories, but I'm planning on doing a feature story on coach Schuerman about her time as head coach for SCF softball and her milestones with SCF softball as well as leading to her 200th career win as head coach.

So far from the sophomore class (Madelyn Graham, Makayla Benavidez, Ashlee Zientek and Madi LoCastro), Graham (Warner: NAIA) and Zientek (Ursuline: NCAA DII) are deciding to continue to their softball careers at the university level.

Softball was the first sport I watched at SCF when then head coach Meredith Michaels (nee Headings) was leading the team to the 2012 NJCAA College Softball World Series as one of two members from the FCSAA.

SCF Baseball:
Let's start it off with my first story on the SCF baseball team on their win over Broward College winning by a score of 10-1 (2/8/19). I didn't get my first interview with coach Tim Hill II until the game against Hillsborough (3/29/19). Then we made it to the state tournament where we went to the state tournament before being the sixth team to be eliminated.

When the 2020 season went underway, the first story I did for SCF baseball was the opening day game against FSW in a non-conference matchup at CoolToday Park in Venice (the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves). Some would assume that it was home field advantage for SCF because the stadium was closer to SCF, however it was deemed as neutral grounds because it took place neither at SCF nor FSW even it was closer to SCF.

When we had the home opener, I got coach Hill, of course, but this season I got to interview my first two players from the baseball team in transfer AJ Fritz and freshman Clay Callahan. Fritz transferred from Evansville and was one of 11 transfers to join SCF.

Truthfully, the main player I interviewed the most was actually Cameron Lee when he hit his first collegiate home run and his first collegiate grand slam.

I'm remembering one of the funniest parts of the 2020 baseball season was when I was at the home game against PHSC, Fritz's parents, Steve and Amy, were in attendance and all of a sudden, I hear Amy asked if I was the one writing all the stories and at first I was a little hesitant because I thought someone was stalking me (joking), but as I introduced myself, she said that she loved my stories and that was so amazing to meet the parents that read, like and retweet my stories and say many positive things about them.

In the end, the Manatees finished the season 16-11 overall with a 5-1 record in the Suncoast and were in first place in conference. I guess in a sense after finishing the sweep with Polk State, we were going to most likely win the Suncoast Conference Regular Season Championship, even if this year happens to be unofficial.

Thanks and Final Thoughts:
To close this post off, I wanted to give my final thoughts and many thanks to the SCF Athletic Department.

The 2019-20 school was actually a pretty good year for SCF athletics and it was quite an adventure despite the early ending. I got to be around so many great athletes that are going to be making names for themselves. On a positive note for the spring sports, the baseball, softball, tennis and beach volleyball players have an opportunity to return for a renewed season should they decide to take the opportunity.

One question that always comes to mind is "Why do I continue writing about a junior college if I don't get paid for it?" I feel the question is a two-way path. On one side, I do it because I love writing about my alma mater. On the other side, I do it to hopefully gain some experience around journalism, which I do every single time I write a story. All-in-all, whether I get paid for it or not, it does not matter to me because I enjoy it.

Sure I still hope that Dr. Carol Probstfeld, the SCF president, creates a position for a sports communication director or something like that, and that is still in the air of discussion for the near future. Until then, all I can do is wait on it and continue doing what I like to do.

Thank you to Matt Ennis and Ms. Loretta Demonte, the SCF athletic director and assistant athletic director, for getting me access to do feature stories, cover the games and getting postgame interviews afterwards for the athletic events, even if I have to write about the losses. I have known Matt for almost 10 years and Ms. Loretta for five and they have done wonderful things for the SCF athletic department. Although it sometimes becomes a habit from time-to-time when I call Matt 'Mr. Ennis', even though I'm not a student there anymore. It's still a good laugh nevertheless.

I want to thank head coach Parks and assistant coaches Rob Beckmann, Nav Gil, Lem Andrews, Ace Whitaker and David Peck for all they did to keep the SCF basketball team on their toes and for the being the first SCF team I did stories on.

Thank you to coach Schuerman and coach Hill for letting me cover their games, even if the seasons were cut short and Suncoast Conference did not commence for softball. I've known Hill since spring 2013 and Schuerman since fall 2014 and they have done wonders for the baseball and softball programs and I hope they keep doing wonders for the teams.

Thank you to a fellow alum in coach Murphy and coach Burnett for helping with the boxscores for the tennis and indoor/beach volleyball matches when I needed them for my recaps. It was incredibly helpful for me even though the matches that were on the road or on neutral grounds.

Thank you to Amy Beckmann for helping get some photos at the basketball games.

Finally, thank you to all the athletes who participated in my feature stories for postgame interviews and took the time to read, like and retweet all the stories when I post them on Twitter as well as the parents that were able to be in attendance and read my stories.

To think, this whole blog started as a school assignment at FGCU and then I chose to expand it from there spring 2017. Come to think of it, doing stories for SCF is quite an amazing adventure because I learn a lot from all the athletes and their backgrounds.

I definitely look forward to seeing the 2020-21 athletic season for SCF and will look forward to writing up more feature stories, schedule releases, previews and recaps.

First Story Links:
SCF VB: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/07/scf-vb-opens-season-santa-fe.html
SCF Basketball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2018/12/scf-basketball-preview.html
SCF Tennis: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/search/label/SCF%20Tennis?updated-max=2019-03-13T11:31:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=20&by-date=false
SCF Softball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/01/scf-softball-juco-kickoff-classic.html
SCF Baseball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/02/scf-baseball-vs-broward-recap.html
SCF BVB: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2020/02/scf-bvb-sets-for-first-road-tri-match.html

Feature Story Links:
Sara Ramirez-Goncalves: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/12/srq-scf-win.html
Brie Botsford: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/12/for-scf-tennis-team-each-player-has.html
Leilani Wilcox-Nanai: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/10/leilanis-volleyball-journey.html
Sydney Jaco: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/10/jacos-legacy.html

Other Social Media Posts:
*SCF Basketball: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2972192216138294&set=a.328054693885406&type=3&theater

*SCF Volleyball: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2619958888028297&set=pb.100000426339316.-2207520000..&type=3&theater

SCF Tennis Falls to Broward

The SCF tennis team (2-6, 0-4 Region 8) dropped a heartbreaker at the SCF Tennis Complex as they fell 7-2 to Broward (2-0, 2-0 Region 8).

In doubles play, sophomore Sara Ramirez-Goncalves and freshman Karla Menendez won the Manatees only double point at #1 doubles by a score of 8-6. The Seahawks remained ahead 2-1.

Heading into singles play, freshman Allie Beck would be the first to fall at #6 singles as she lost a 6-0 pair decision to sophomore Bar Shimoni before redshirt freshman Mackenzie Vraspir to sophomore Giulia Leali 6-1, 6-2 at #5 singles.

Sophomore Brie Botsford would fall 6-3, 6-2 to freshman Polina Khotko at #4 singles for the Seahawks win.

Finishing up the last three matches, Menendez would fall 6-2, 6-4 to freshman Ajda Bukovec at #2 singles, but soon freshman Martina Shakhnazarova would give the Manatees their second point at #3 singles over freshman Lizaveta Krasouskaya with a 6-2 pair decision.

Ramirez-Goncalves would be the last Manatee to fall at #1 singles to freshman Isabella Elena Perez Flores in a 6-4 pair decision.

Up Next:
The Manatees remain at home as they welcome Hillsborough to the SCF Tennis Complex Thursday afternoon, March 12 at 3 pm.

SCF Tennis Drops Heatbreaker to EFSC

The SCF tennis team (1-5, 0-3 Region 4) dropped a close matchup to Eastern Florida State (1-1, 1-0 Region 4) 5-4 at the Titan Tennis Center in Melbourne.

The Manatees opened up with doubles as redshirt freshman Mackenzie Vraspir and freshman Allie Beck fell to sophomore Chengeto Moyana and freshman Ivett Castaneda 8-0 at #3 double. The duo of sophomore Sara Ramirez-Goncalves and freshman Karla Menendez would then defeat sophomore Tsveti Trifonova and freshman Carlota Gascon Martinez 8-6 at #1 doubles before sophomore Britain Botsford and freshman Martina Shakhnazarova defeated the freshmen duo of Rachel Weaver and Julie Martincova 8-5 at #2 doubles, putting the Manatees up 2-1

Heading into singles play, Beck would be the first to fall to Castaneda from a 6-0 pair decision at #6 single before Vraspir fell in a 6-1 pair at #5 single to Moyana.

With the score 3-2 EFSC, Shakhnazarova would claim the first singles win for the Manatees at #3 singles defeating frshman Martina Garcia 6-2, 6-1 to tie the matchup at 3-3 before Botsford fell 4-6, 6-4, 2-6 to Weaver at #4 singles to make it 4-3 EFSC.

With two singles matches remaining, Menendez would tie the matchup at 4-4 after defeating Martinez 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6) at #2 singles, but the Manatees would drop the heartbreaker at #1 singles as Ramirez-Goncalves would fall to Trifonova 7-5, 3-6, 3-6.

Up Next:
The Manatees will look to bounce back in a few days as they travel to Babson Park to take on Webber International (0-8, 0-5 TSC) Wednesday morning, March 4 at 11 am.

SCF Tennis Claims First Win of the Season

The SCF tennis team (1-2) claimed their first victory of the 2020 season as they defeated NAIA Florida National (1-7) 7-0 at the SCF Tennis Complex.

"Felt great to notch our first win of the season and for it to be a convincing win," said head coach Chloe Murphy. "Definitely a confidence booster for the girls."

Beginning with doubles, the Conquistadors forfeited their doubles match on court three with the freshman duo of Allie Beck and redshirt Mackenzie Vrsapir (1-2) defeating the freshmen duo of Lizabeth Ardanal and Ana Luiza Barreto. The duo of sophomore Sara Ramirez-Goncalves and Karla Menendez (1-0) would fall to the freshmen duo of Candela Bonivardi and Sofia Victoria Pera by a score of 6-3 at #1 doubles. In the decider, the duo of sophomore Brie Botsford and freshman Martina Shakhnazarova (1-0) defeated the freshmen duo of Nathalia Vivas Gomez and Andrea Guuzman Granada at #2 doubles winning by a score of 6-4, thus the Manatees claiming the doubles point.

"Doubles it was a good match for Brie and Martina to pull out," said Murphy on the team's doubles performance. "We have a lot of growth to do in doubles, but we’re getting better each match."

Heading into singles play, Beck (1-2) would claim her match at #6 singles defeating Barreto via forfeit for a 2-0 SCF lead. Shakhnazarova (1-2) would claim the Manatees third point at #3 singles against Vivas winning by a score of 6-1, 6-0. Vraspir (1-2) would get claim the match point for the Manatees as she won her match at #5 singles against Ardanal by a score of 6-2, 6-0 for the win.

For the remaining four singles matches, Botsford (1-2) would claim her match 6-3, 6-0 at #5 singles defeating Guuzman Granada. Ramirez-Goncalves (1-2) would follow winning her match against Bonivardi 6-2, 6-3 at #1 singles before Menendez claimed the sweep with a 6-4 pair decision win over Pera at #2 singles.

"Singles everyone performed well today," said Murphy. "They came out with a renewed energy after a flat doubles, and out performances definitely benefited from that. Any day you sweep singles it’s a great day, so it’s tough to single out just one player."

Up Next:
The Manatees will have another exhibition matchup as they travel to St. Leo to take on NCAA DII St. Leo University before resuming season play with a matchup against St. Pete College Saturday morning, February 15 at 11 am.

"St. Leo are a strong team," said Murphy. "We’re going to their place and playing one of the strongest D2 schools in the Nation. It’s going to be a tough match for sure, but to be one of the best teams in the nation you have to go up against the strongest of strong teams and perform. We are excited for the challenge and keep working to get better each match. We will make the necessary adjustments and go compete and enjoy the match."

SCF Tennis Fights With Southeastern in Scrimmage

PC: Codi Bressler

Although it was ruled as a scrimmage, the SCF tennis team dropped their matchup against NAIA Southeastern losing by a score of 5-4.

The matchup began with doubles as the freshman duo of Karla Menendez and Martina Shakhnazarova defeated the duo of sophomore Beatrice Letizia and freshman Nadezda Bijelic by a score of 8-3 at #2 doubles.

Following them, freshman Allie Beck and redshirt freshman Mackenzie Vraspir fell to the sophomore duo of Mia Dunagan and Priscila Baptista at #3 doubles by a score of 8-4.

For the final doubles match, the sophomore duo of Sara Ramirez-Goncalves and Britain Botsford defeated the duo of junior Angelique Myrtil and senior Sharienne Ricardo by a score of 8-6 at #1 doubles. The Manatees were ahead 2-1.

"My performance in doubles wasn't the best," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I was very nervous and very tight. I didn't play how I normally played, so I just try to erase that from my memory. At the end, me and Brie (Botsford) won and Brie was a really good support even though we didn't play our best. She still kept me down to earth to what we needed to do."

"We worked a lot on doubles this week and definitely showed improvement in that," said head coach Chloe Murphy. "I'm so proud of them for showing it and making adjustments"

After 15 minutes of warming up and getting hydrated, singles play went underway.

In a exhibition match, redshirt freshman Alexis Booker fell to freshman Kishaundah Romain 8-5 in one single set.

Shakhnazarova would be the first to fall as she fell to Letizia at #2 singles in a 6-0 pair decision to tie the score at 2-2. Letizia was named as a member of the NAIA All-American Second Team last season

Botford would be the next person to fall as she fell in 6-1 pair decision to Bijelic at #3 singles to give the Lady Flames a 3-2 lead. At #5 singles, Vraspir would fall Baptista in a 6-2 pair decision.

With the score 4-2 in favor of Southeastern, Menendez would not let Myrtil get in her way as she cut the Lady Flames lead to one at #4 singles as native of Cordoba, Mexico defeated Myrtil 7-6, 6-0 leaving it down to Beck and Ramirez-Goncalves.

Beck continued to try and fight at #6 singles, but ultimately would fall to 6-4, 6-3 giving Southeastern the win. Despite the loss, Ramirez-Goncalves went on to continue playing as she defeated the reigning NAIA All-American Honorable Mention in Ricardo by a score of 7-6 (3), 6-2 at #1 singles.

"It wasn't the result we wanted," said Murphy on singles. "But it was a lot of things we can take back to the practice court and work on with three more chances to get better next week."

"Because it was only me in singles, I know if I make a mistake, it's on me," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her singles match. "I know that there is no one else that depends on me on my performance. I was a lot more relaxed and fought much more in doubles. It was really nice and I'm glad how I played in singles."


Opinion*: The crowd, which was majorly the SCF basketball team as well as members of the baseball, softball and volleyball team, all came to support the tennis team for their opening matchup, despite it being a scrimmage and I have to say it was pretty lively to say the least.

"It was phenomenal," said Murphy on the support. "The girls always like to play when there's people around and it's more fun to play when you got people to support you and we appreciate the support from all the teams that came to see us. It meant a lot for the girls to see their fellow athletes play."

"It was a really good thing to have such a big crowd today with their support," said Ramirez-Goncalves on the support. "They were wonderful and it was the first time that that amount of people showed up."

Up Next:
The Manatees will have another home scrimmage as they welcome NCAA DII Rollins College Tuesday afternoon at 3 pm. Following that, the Manatees will have their official opening match of the season as they travel to Tampa to take on the University of Tampa. The Spartans finished last season 12-8 overall with a 4-6 record in the Sunshine State Conference.

SCF Tennis Opens Season at Home

With 2019 put behind them, the SCF tennis team will open their 2020 spring season at home as they welcome Southeastern University (2-1) January 30 at 4:30 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 6-7 overall with a 4-6 record in Region 8. They would end up finishing fourth in the standings and at the Region 8 State Tournament. Despite not winning the NJCAA Region 8 Tennis Tournament, the Manatees were able to qualify for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas as one of two teams with an at-large bid (Broward College was the other). In fact, the Manatees were actually ranked #5 in the NJCAA National Polls.

At nationals, the Manatees finished tied for fifth place with Cowley College out of 32 teams, winning one consolation doubles tournament.

The team lost five players, Sara and Zeba Jamal, Diarra Thomas, Camille "Cami" Portalier and Laura Illanes-Rodriguez as they have all transferred to different universities. Sara Jamal (Jacksonville State University), Thomas (Coppin State), Portalier (NCAA DII West Georgia) and Illanes-Rodriguez (USC Upstate) have all transferred as juniors, while Zeba Jamal (Presbyterian College) was the only freshman that transferred as a sophomore. Furthermore, Illanes-Rodriguez was the only player on the team to win an award for SCF as she claimed the Vicki Schnurr Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

Head coach Chloe Murphy will look to mix in her four returners, Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Britain "Brie" Botsford, Mackenzie Vraspir and Alexis Booker with five freshmen faces, Allie Beck, Karla Menendez, Olivia Sabo, Martina Shakhnazorova and Holly Sheeran-Hall. Vraspir and Booker redshirted last season with Vraspir playing in exhibition matches, while Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford were the lone returners that played last season.

Ramirez-Goncalves finished last season 13-4 in singles and 9-10 in doubles primarily teaming with Sara Jamal. The native of Cancun, Mexico played at #3 singles and went as far as the semifinals in the national tournament. Botsford finished 8-10 at #5 singles and 10-8 at #3 doubles pairing primarily with Diarra Thomas. Botsford went as far as the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles at nationals.

Scouting Southeastern University:
The Lady Flames, who compete in the NAIA, finished last season 16-4 overall with a 5-2 record in the Sun Conference before falling in the conference quarterfinals to Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). The Lady Flames went as high as #19 in the NAIA Coaches Poll.

The team is led by defending Sun Conference Co-Coach of the Year Drew Dickens, who enters his second season as head coach after being named interim head coach prior. Dickens also coaches the men's team.

The team lost two players that graduated, Nicole Backherms and Michelle Doan, but do have six returners on their team and three upcoming freshmen. The returners include senior Sharienne Ricardo and sophomore Beatrice Letizia. Both players were named on the Sun Conference Second Team. Additionally, Ricardo was named on the Sun Conference All-Academic and named an NAIA All-America Honorable Mention, while Letizia was named on the NAIA All-America Second Team.

This will be the second time both teams meet. Last Season, the Manatees defeated the Lady Flames 8-1 at home coincidentally on January 30.

How to Keep Up:
Fans can follow both teams on Twitter:
SCF: @TennisSCF
SEU: @SEUFireTennis

SCF Tennis Releases Spring Schedule

The SCF tennis team will put 2019 in the past and ready for the 2020 regular spring season with a whole new squad.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees finished last season 6-7 overall with a 4-6 record in Region 8. They would end up finishing fourth in the standings. Despite not winning the NJCAA Region 8 Tennis Tournament, the Manatees were able to qualify for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas as one of two teams with an at-large bid. In fact, the Manatees were actually ranked #5 in the NJCAA National Polls. At nationals, the Manatees finished tied for fifth place with Cowley College out of 32 teams, winning one consolation doubles tournament.

The Manatees are led by current head coach Chloe Murphy, who enters her third year as head coach.

In with the New, Out with the Old:
The team lost five players, Sara and Zeba Jamal, Diarra Thomas, Camille "Cami" Portalier and Laura Illanes-Rodriguez as they have all transferred to different universities. Sara Jamal (Jacksonville University), Thomas (Coppin State), Portalier (NCAA DII: West Georgia) and Illanes-Rodriguez (USC Upstate) have all transferred as juniors, while Zeba Jamal (Presbyterian College) was the only freshman that transferred as a sophomore. Furthermore, Illanes-Rodriguez was the only player on the team to win an award for SCF as she claimed the Vicki Schnurr Scholar-Athlete of the Year award.

For this season, there are four returners, Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Britain "Brie" Botsford, Mackenzie Vraspir and Alexis Booker. Vraspir and Booker redshirted last season with Vraspir playing in exhibition matches, while Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford were the lone returners that played last season.

Ramirez-Goncalves finished last season 13-4 in singles and 9-10 in doubles primarily teaming with Sara Jamal. The native of Cancun, Mexico played at #3 singles and went as far as the semifinals in the national tournament.

Botsford finished 8-10 at #5 singles and 10-8 at #3 doubles pairing primarily with Thomas. Botsford went as far as the quarterfinals in both singles and doubles at nationals.

Murphy was also able to land five true freshmen: Allie Beck, Karla Menendez, Olivia Sabo, Martina Shakhnazorova and Holly Sheeran-Hall.

The Manatees will have their opening match in January as they have their home opener against NAIA Southeastern University (1/30) to start the season.

After a home scrimmage against Rollins College (NCAA DII), they will then have their first road match against the University of Tampa (NCAA DII) (2/6).

The Manatees will then play back-to-back home matches opening Region 8 Conference play against the defending Region 8 Regular Season Champions in ASA Miami for their conference opener before facing USCAA Florida National (2/13).

The Manatees will then have three straight road matches for conference play against St. Pete College (2/19), Hillsborough (2/21) and Eastern Florida State (2/28).

March 27 will be the last home matchup against Eastern Florida State and will be dubbed as sophomore day for Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford before their season finale on the road against Broward College. From there, the Manatees will travel to Sanlando for the NJCAA Region 8 State Tournament (4/17-19) before trying to Tucson, Arizona for the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament (5/3-8).

SRG + SCF = WIN

PC: NJCAA

For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. On the last feature story, I did on sophomore Brie Botsford, but now I will choose to do my next feature story on another one of the other SCF tennis team's other returning true sophomore: Sara Ramirez-Goncalves.

Ramirez-Goncalves is a native of Cancun, Mexico that holds citizenship there and in Portugal. Like Botsford, Ramirez-Goncalves began her career at a young age with a legacy and a difficult choice of a sport to stick with.

"When I was younger, I went through a phase were I just wanted to try every sport there was," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I wanted to find something that I truly enjoyed and after going from one sport to another, when I was 10 years old, I got into tennis. As soon as I started playing, I loved it. I knew that it was the sport that I wanted to play and, in the future, compete. My dad used to play tennis when he was younger and he had participated in state, regional and national tournaments, which somehow also made me want to try it."

While she did continue to play tennis at a competitive level, Ramirez-Goncalves had to battle through many grueling injuries that tried to plague her from continuing to play the sport she loved.

"I had a multiple fracture on my right-foot which according to the doctors required immediate surgery," said Ramirez-Goncalves on battling her injuries. "After that I was not supposed to be playing tennis again at all. As soon as I heard this, I knew that I had to find an alternative. Therefore, I spent 6 months in a cast and other 6 months in rehabilitation in order to fully recover. After this happened, I am more careful and aware of my physical, mental and emotional health. There is nothing more important than your personal well-being."

Ramirez-Goncalves continued to push herself carefully at a competitive level and competed in several International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments that helped her get a good enough ranking for her recruiting process for colleges and universities. Ramirez-Goncalves eventually did receive a couple of offers from other colleges and universities, but turned them down because they did not fully convince her to enroll there and then made the move to enroll at SCF.

"I chose SCF because after talking to coach (Chloe) Murphy and getting to know her coaching philosophy and goals I truly believed it was the best option for me."

Upon her arrival to SCF, the first person to give Ramirez-Goncalves a "welcome to SCF" warm welcome was then sophomore Laura Illanes-Rodriguez, in which they had a special bond even prior to SCF as they both played in the same national and international tournaments in Mexico since 2016. In fact, Ramirez-Goncalves and Illanes-Rodriguez were very close than anyone can expect as well as then sophomore Camille "Cami" Portalier. She also gain a strong and close friendship with freshman Karla Menendez as they are both roommates.

"They were the closest with me without a doubt," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her friendships. "I consider both my best friends, and even after they transferred our friendship remains and I know they will always be there for me."

Illanes-Rodriguez ended up transferring to South Carolina Upstate, while Portalier transferred to the University of West Georgia (NCAA DII), but the trio continued to keep their bond strong no matter how distant they are from each other. Aside from Illanes-Rodriguez and Portalier, Ramirez-Goncalves was able to warm up to all of her teammates with positive mixed emotions.

"I was very excited, nervous and happy at the same time to meet all my new teammates, because I wanted to give a good first impression and truly hoped we could become good friends and get along inside and outside the court."

Ramirez-Goncalves continued to feel more welcome at SCF, but when the spring season went underway, she was destined to make a good impression for coach Murphy in her first match against NAIA Southeastern University.

"My first match at SCF was the first match coach Murphy was going to watch me compete," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her first spring match. "I remember I was feeling nervous and excited, because I was finally going to be able to compete after a long time and I also wanted to give a good impression on my performance."

Upon her first match against Southeastern and beginning of the season, Ramirez was placed at #2 doubles and paired up with Portalier while competing at #1 singles before transitioning to #3 singles and #1 doubles for the remainder of the season. Ramirez-Goncalves ended up winning her first doubles match of the spring with Portalier winning by a score of 8-0 against Angelique Myrtil and Gabby Marshall 8-0 at #2 doubles before securing the match point by defeating Sharian Ricardo 6-1, 6-2 at #1 singles.

Yet one of her talked about matches was against St. Pete College (SPC) in which she had a tough going against her opponent in which the Manatees won by a score of 5-4 thanks to her clinching the final point.

"I was playing against an Italian girl called Babi (Barbara Damiani)," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her most talked about match. "That match was the decisive match for the win. The feeling of clinching and getting the win for the team was one of the most exciting and satisfying moments of the season."

While tennis continues to be Ramirez-Goncalves' passion, she does like to do one thing outside of tennis.

"I love going to the beach and watch the sunset," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I think that the sound of the waves is so relaxing, and at the same time the colors and the view are beautiful."

Even in her most memorable moments, Ramirez-Goncalves reminisces on going to the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas when athletic trainer Kylee Bernthisel and assistant athletic director Loretta DeMonte joined the team, which she said was more enjoyable to have them there to support them.

At the end of the regular season, Ramirez-Goncalves would earn a spot on the Suncoast Conference All-Academic Team before heading to states and reaching as far as the semifinals. After SCF earned an at-large bid to compete in the national tournament as the #5 team in the nation. Ramirez would earn a first-round bye as the #4 seed at the NJCAA Flight 3 Singles and went as far as the semifinals before falling to ASA Miami's Irina Lapustina.

Ramirez-Goncalves ended up finishing her freshman campaign 13-4 in dual singles action and 8-10 in doubles action with Jamal. The Manatees would end up finishing tied for 5th place in the tournament. Ramirez-Goncalves does plan to continue with her tennis career whether as a player or as a coach.

"After SCF my plan is to transfer to a NCAA Division 1 University where I will be able to continue playing tennis collegiately and get my bachelor's degree," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her future. "Tennis is my passion. Therefore, it seems difficult to picture myself not playing at all. If that was the case, there is no doubt that I would still like to involve myself into the tennis industry. I would love to apply for an assistant coach position in a college or university, or for a position to work in management of the USTA (United States Tennis Association), WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) or ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)."

While she does look forward to where her future lies, Ramirez-Goncalves can still focus on preparing for the 2020 spring season and hopefully another trip to the national tournament.

Botsford's Moment

For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen.

For this story, I chose to do it on one of the two returning true sophomores, Britain "Brie" Botsford. A native of Delray Beach, Florida, Botsford joined SCF in fall 2018 yet her story of her career in tennis began in her own backyard with a strong tennis background.

"I first got into tennis when I was four years old and it was thanks to my dad," said Botsford. "He decided it would be a good idea to to stick a tennis racket in my hand and I’ve been doing it ever since."

Although she was committed to continue playing, Botsford did go through many obstacles that tried to stop her from playing or continuing to play sport she loved.

"Playing a sport for as long as I have its hard not to. It usually involved past coaches or losing passion. I’m a very stubborn person so no matter what obstacles I faced, I pushed through and it all worked out in the end."

And low and behold she did and continued to push herself harder on a competitive edge to partake in several tennis tournaments like the Orange Bowl and the Eddie Herr Tournament as well as several different national tournament like the Extreme Tennis Academy Tournament.

Despite having several offers to many different colleges and universities, Botsford fell in love with SCF after a campus visit and committed to being a Manatee a couple of days after. Upon her official arrival at SCF, the first person to give her a 'Welcome to SCF' warm welcome was head coach Chloe Murphy. Botsford joined SCF as one of six newcomers and five true freshmen, yet at first she was a little hesitant in the beginning of the season.

"I was scared at first," said Botsford on meeting her new teammates. "I was nervous that we wouldn’t get along, but it couldn’t of worked out any better. I consider them my sisters and couldn’t ask for better teammates."

Right as rain, Botsford warmed up with all of her teammates and was officially placed at the number five singles spot and the number three doubles pairing up primarily with then sophomore Diarra Thomas, yet still having her jitters even in the Manatees season opener against Southeastern University (NAIA). In fact, Botsford wasn't too nervous in her spring season debut.

"I’ve played hundreds of matches so it wasn’t really different, so I was more excited than nervous," said Botsford.

Even though she loves playing tennis, Botsford does have several hobbies she likes to do outside of tennis, even if it was on a strict time frame.

"There’s a lot of hobbies that I have," said Botsford on outside of tennis. "Photography has always been a really big passion of mine. It got to the point where I was considering going to art school for it. Reading is also really big for me, I own a couple hundred books but with tennis and school I haven’t had as much time as I used to. But currently I’ve been really into makeup and been practicing on my teammates practically everyday. "

Botsford did finish 8-10 in singles play and 10-8 in doubles with Thomas her freshman year and went as far as the quarterfinals in both areas at the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament, but even before that Botsford has had her fair share of intense matches during the season she flashed back on as well as memorable moments at SCF, especially when flashing back to their 6-3 win over Broward College and her match against Hillsborough.

"Probably my most talked about match would have to be when I played HCC last spring," said Botsford on one of her matches. "We ended up splitting sets and I won in a tie breaker 11-9. The match lasted over 3 hours. It was one of the toughest matches of my life and took a lot of mental and psychical strength to get through it. The girl ended up winning states and got very far in the draw at nationals. So, it was considered a pretty big win for me."

"I have so many great memories here," Botsford added on her memories. "Honestly anytime I’m with all the girls is a favorite memory, but if I had to pick one it would have to be when we went to Disney World on our day off after winning 2 matches in a row and knocking Broward out of their spot. Or the day we all came back to school and reunited this past August after being away from each other for the entire summer."

While she now prepares for her sophomore campaign and 2020 spring season, Botsford stills plans to continue getting involved with something she loves.

"I plan on going to a division 1 school to continue my tennis career," said Botsford on her future. "I haven’t decided what school yet, but I’m not in a rush. But after college I plan on retiring from tennis and not going pro. I’ve always been so interested in many different career paths, so I’m going to go after one of those. Tennis will always be apart of me, but for me I don’t want to do the same thing for the rest of my life and tennis has been my life/job since I was a kid. I know I want to do something within the publishing or film industry, but I’m not sure exactly what yet."

Wherever Botsford's journey takes her, whether it's in the publishing industry, film industry or on the tennis court, her journey with SCF is not close to being over yet as she continues to push herself this season and looks to help lead the Manatees to another state and national tournament appearance.