• Box Score

MIAMI SHORES, Fla. (March 13) – Facing the defending-National Champion in NCAA Division II, the No. 11 California University of Pennsylvania tennis team suffered a 7-2 loss at No. 2 Barry (Fla.) on Tuesday afternoon.

With the loss, the Vulcans fall to 8-3 overall with their only losses coming against a pair of top-five teams and an NCAA Division I program. Meanwhile, the Buccaneers remain undefeated by improving to 11-0 this season.

Barry opened the afternoon by winning two of the three doubles matches. The No. 5 tandem of seniors Martina Rubesova (Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic/Gymnazium Dr. Vaclava Smejkala) and Franziska Steinhardt (Bad Lausick, Germany/St. Augustin Gymnasium) earned a 9-8 (7-2) win at first doubles over Bucs' Mona Mansour and Cristina Valladares. At the second position, Vojka Lukic and Julie Stas collected an 8-5 victory against senior Annabel Pieschl (Gothenburg, Sweden/Katrinelund) and junior Jade Pondicas (Johannesburg, South Africa/British International Distance). Barry's Linda Fritschken and Caroline Wending dealt senior Anastassiya Zherdeva (Almaty, Kazakhstan/Gumnasia Number 60) and freshman Ramona Czakon an 8-4 defeat at third doubles.

Playing without three nationally-ranked singles players, the Bucs won five of the six singles matches on Tuesday. At the first position, No. 47 Fritschken outlasted No. 10 Rubesova for a 4-6, 6-4, 10-3 victory. Pieschl earned the lone victory for Cal U in singles action, collecting a 6-1, 6-3 win at the second slot against Sarah Krohnen. At third singles, No. 49 Wending registered a straight-set victory over No. 31 Pondicas, 6-1, 6-2.

Zherdeva suffered a 6-4, 6-2 loss to Stas at the fourth position, while Steinhardt dropped a three-set match to Mansour at the fifth slot, 6-3, 5-7, 10-5. Czakon was dealt only her second singles loss of the year, falling 6-2, 6-4 to Bucs' Akemi Maehama at sixth singles.

Cal U continues play in the Sunshine State on Friday, March 16, when it travels to face No. 12 Florida Southern in Lakeland, Fla., at 3 p.m.