BRADENTON, Fla. -- The Buccaneers were on a crash course for the finals no matter how you looked at it. Guess what, that's exactly where they find themselves now.
Barry University's No. 3-ranked women's tennis team shut out No. 27 Rollins, 5-0, Friday in the Sunshine State Conference semifinals at IMG Academy to send the Bucs into Saturday's 2 p.m. championship match.
Sonja Larsen and
Isabel Rapisarda Calvo each won two matches Friday by the same scores, and neither of them dropped a game in singles.
INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final: Barry 5, Rollins 0
Records: Barry 24-0, Rollins 11-10
SUMMARY:
- Rapisarda Calvo and Dasha Salnikova were 8-1 winners over Savanna Fuller and Teresa Kaiser at No. 3 doubles. Rapisarda Calvo, who owns the No. 31 singles ranking in the country, beat Shannon Etten, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 2 singles to clinch the victory for the Buccaneers.
- Larsen and Ana Pain beat Fabiana Vitanza and Alexandra Borg, 8-1, at No. 1 doubles to give Barry a 2-0 lead. Larsen, who is ranked 16th nationally, breezed by Fuller, 6-0, 6-0, at No. 5 singles. Her singles victory moved the Bucs within a point of closing out the Tars.
- Zuza Maciejewska and Verena Schmid capped off the doubles sweep following an 8-1 win over Etten and Carlye Goldman at No. 2 pairs.
- Schmid, who is ranked 13th in the South Region, led Goldman, 6-2, 2-1, at No. 3 singles when the match was decided.
- Salnikova, who is No. 18 in the nation, took the first set from Vitanza, 6-3, at No. 1 singles.
- Karina Goia won the opening set in her No. 6 singles match with Kaiser, 6-2.
- Pain led Borg, 5-4, in the first set when Rapisarda Calvo clinched.
NOTEWORTHY:
- It was Barry's fourth consecutive shutout, and 15th of the season.
- It marked the 21st time this season the Bucs have swept doubles play.
- It was the first time all season the Buccaneers have won all three doubles matches by the same score. The last time Barry did that was April 18, 2015 when the Bucs swept Saint Leo with three 8-2 scores in pairs play. Barry won that match, 9-0, to capture the 2015 SSC regular season title.
- Ana Pain collected her 78th career doubles victory to move ahead of Emma Onila for second place on the school's all-time list. Linda Fritschken holds the Bucs record with 96 career pairs victories.
ON THE HORIZON:
Barry advanced to Saturday's 2 p.m. championship match versus Lynn at IMG Academy.
