Jan. 24, 2010

Written By Melanie Cheatham , B-CU SID Department Intern (386) 481-2278 -

Lady Eagle's of Florida Gulf Coast Sweep the Board in Lady Wildcat Season Opener

The Lady Wildcats opened their season Sunday against the Lady Eagles of Florida Gulf Coast University. Bethune-Cookman struggled to keep up in doubles and fell to the Eagles for the doubles point. In singles FGCU swept all six matches and beat the Lady Wildcats 7-0.

B-CU's number one doubles duo of Katarina Szaboova and Eva Hankova were defeated 8-2 by FGCU's Priscillia Villemond and Iris Rendon.

Playing number two doubles for the Wildcats was Stacey Lopez and Shereen Peterson-Paul. This pair also fell short to their FGCU opponents Jessica Sweeting and Jen Evans, losing 8-4.

Continuing the doubles play were Brittany Davis and Valeshia Kendrick playing number three. The Wildcats played hard but were overcome by FGCU's Eva Sambrano and Bibiana Almeida 8-3.

"Today we had our opener against Florida Gulf Coast University, a top division one program in the A- Sun conference. Pretty windy conditions today, I felt like we weren't as intense as we needed to be start with. The intensity picked up mid-way through doubles and we showed a lot of fight through the singles matches. It's a rough start to the beginning of the season, but we knew that FGCU was a quality team, a quality university, quality program and we knew we would have our hands full today," said B-CU Head Coach, Trey Bogue.

In singles, number one player Katarina Szaboova, (Komarno, Slovakia) fell to Iris Rendon. Szaboova put up a great fight in the second set, but fell short to Rendon 6-0, 6-4.

Jessica Sweeting of Florida Gulf Coast University defeated freshman Wildcat Shereen Peterson-Paul, (Ontario, Canada) 6-1, 6-1. 

Wildcat senior captain, Eva Hankova, (Prague, Chez Republic) also lost 6-2, 6-0 to Lady Eagle Jen Evans. Another senior captain , Jeneice Ward, (Diego Martin, Trinidad) lost 6-0, 6-2 to FGCU's Morgan Bechtel.

Valeshia Kendrick, (Winter Haven, Florida) sophomore, was overwhelmed by opponent Melissa Narzissenfeld  6-0, 6-2.

Ending the day for the Lady Wildcats was sophomore Stacey Lopez (Bronx, New York).  Lopez played a long match against FGCU opponent Priscillia Villemond. "Stacey Lopez really played well in her match," said Bogue. Although Lopez played tough, she ended the day losing 6-1, 6-2.

The Lady Wildcats will next take on the Lady Owls of Florida Atlantic University on Friday, January 29, 2010.  Continue to follow the Wildcats' season at www.B-CUathletics.com. The site also contains video highlights, coach and player interviews of all BCU Wildcat sports.  B-CU ALL-ACCESS!

Florida Gulf Coast 7, Bethune-Cookman University 0
Jan 24, 2010 at Daytona Beach, Fla. (City Island Tennis Center)

Singles competition

1. Iris Rendon (FGCU) def. Katarina Szaboova (BCUW) 6-0, 6-4

2. Jessica Sweeting (FGCU) def. Shereen Peterson-Pau (BCUW) 6-2, 6-1

3. Priscillia Villemond (FGCU) def. Stacey Lopez (BCUW) 6-1, 6-2

4. Katharine Evans (FGCU) def. Eva Hankova (BCUW) 6-2, 6-0

5. Melissa Narzisenfeld (FGCU) def. Valeshia Kendrick (BCUW) 6-1, 6-2

6. Morgan Bechtel (FGCU) def. Jeneice Ward (BCUW) 6-0, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. Priscillia Villemond/Iris Rendon (FGCU) def. Katarina Szaboova/Eva Hankova (BCUW) 8-2

2. Jessica Sweeting/Katharine Evans (FGCU) def. Shereen Peterson-Pau/Stacey Lopez (BCUW) 8-4

3. Eva Sambrano/Bibiana Almeida (FGCU) def. Valeshia Kendrick/Brittany Davis (BCUW) 8-3