The Keiser University women's tennis squad concluded the final day of the ITA Florida Regional with a shot at the doubles and singles championship.
Megane Bianco began the day with a matchup against Camile Gbaguidi of SCAD, the No. 1 seed in the region and No. 2 overall player in the latest Oracle/ITA NAIA Women's National Singles Poll. Bianco dropped the first set, 6-2, and then fell in the second set despite making a valiant comeback, 7-6(5).
Bianco and
Julianna Heino then competed for the doubles finals against none other than Gbaguidi and Paige Murdock of SCAD. Bianco and Heino claimed the first set by the score of 6-2. However the nation's fifth ranked doubles team of Gbaguidi and Murdock rallied in the second set to win 7-6(4). The SCAD duo then bested the Keiser doubles tandem in the final set, 6-3, to advance to the ITA National Tournament in October.
"The ladies team had one heck of a tournament…period," stated head coach
Daniel Finn. "To have girls playing for the titles in both singles and doubles speaks volumes. Obviously we fell just short and didn't achieve what we really wanted of winning the whole thing but the ladies did a great job of competing the whole tournament and still had some impressive results along the way. Megane and Julianna's loss obviously hurts since they were so close, but that is tennis. This past week only validates what I know of the talent and potential this team has."
Keiser Results
Doubles Finals
- Gbagudi/Murdock (SCAD) def. Bianco/Heino (KU), 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-3
Singles Finals
- Gbaguidi (SCAD) def. Bianco (KU), 6-2, 7-6(5)
