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Box Score
TAMPA (March 7) – Playing against the top-ranked JUCO team in the country, the No. 13 Vulcans posted a 7-2 victory on Sunday afternoon against No. 1 Hillsborough Community College, who was the JUCO National Champions in 2008.
With the Hawks' status as a JUCO program, the match is not officially recognized by the NCAA.
The California University of Pennsylvania tennis team opened the match by winning two of the three doubles matches. Freshmen
Jutta Bornefeld (Varel, Germany) and
Jade Pondicas (Johannesburg, South Africa) claimed an 8-2 win at second doubles over the tandem of Alessandra Pickerill and Courtney Spafford, At the third position, sophomores
Axelle Fernandez (Nice, France/Institut Familial) and
Mariana Oliveira (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Martha Falcao) dealt an 8-1 defeat to Hillsborough's Jibri Bailey and Paige Palinkas. The Hawks avoided the sweep in doubles play as the top-ranked team of Jillian O'Neill and Olivia Howlett defeated the ninth-ranked tandem of juniors
Nina Kowalski (Hofheim, Germany/Man Taunus) and
Laurie Navarro (Eysus, France/Jules Supervielle) at first doubles.
In singles, Cal U sealed the victory with five straight-set wins. Junior
Julia Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa./Laurel Springs/Miami (Fla.)) earned her fourth victory this week against a nationally-ranked opponent, as she posted a 6-2, 6-0 win over O'Neill, who has accepted a full scholarship to play for Georgia Tech after being the No. 1-ranked singles player in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA).
Sophomore
Anastassiya Zherdeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan) posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory against 32nd-ranked Spafford at third singles, while Bornefeld improved to 7-1 this spring at the fourth position with a 6-0, 6-1 over the Hawks' Pickerill.
At fifth singles, Cal U's Pondicas talled a 6-2, 6-0 win against 87th-ranked Palinkas while junior
Galina Vishnikina (Almaty, Kazakhstan/Sport Military) dealt Bailey a 6-0, 6-1 defeat at the sixth position.
The Vulcans return to the courts on Tuesday, March, 9, when they face No. 29 Augusta State in Daytona Beach, Fla., at 9 a.m.
