SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Barry University's No. 1-ranked women's tennis team got off on the right foot at the NCAA Championships in Surprise, Arizona with a 5-0 win over the Drury Panthers on Tuesday.

"We're very happy they we won. It's over," Bucs head coach Avi Kigel said. "It's always tough the first day of the tournament. We didn't play the best, but we found a way to win all three doubles and then the two singles. Now it's time for a little bit of recovery and getting ready for tomorrow. It's going to be a much tougher match. Academy of Art is a very good team. We played them during the season. It wasn't easy, but hopefully we'll be ready. I think it's on us. If we play a little bit better, it should be a good result."

Following a 3-0 lead after doubles, the Buccaneers picked up two quick points in singles to advance to the national quarterfinals.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP

Final: Barry 5, Drury 0
Records: Barry (25-0), Drury (19-2)

DOUBLES:

• Zuza Maciejewska and Carolin Schmidt put the Bucs on the board at No. 3 doubles with an 8-3 win over Josephine Jedrychowsski and Viktoriya Zheleva.
• Hannah Seizer and Julie Razafindranaly made it 2-0 at No. 2 doubles, beating Larisa Karl and Julia Schepp 8-4.
• Top-ranked Sonja Larsen and Verena Schmid battled out an 8-6 win over Chunh-Yeh Huang and JiaQing Mo at No. 1 to complete the sweep.

SINGLES:

• Judith Bohnenkamp captured the first singles point at No. 6 when Schepp was forced to retire down 3-2 in the first set. Temperatures soared to 103 degrees in the desert.
• Schmidt clinched the match 6-1, 6-1 over Jedrychowsski at No. 4 singles.
• The Buccaneers were up a set in in all four unfinished matches. 

NOTEWORTHY:

• The Bucs advance to the national quarterfinals for the eighth time in the last nine years.
• The Bucs defeated Academy of Art on Mar. 29 in Melbourne, Fla., 8-1.
• Academy of Art defeated Concordia (N.Y.) 5-0 in the round of 16.
• Maciejewska and Schmid improved to 21-0 as a doubles team.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"I finished my match pretty quickly. My opponent retired when I was 3-2 up in the first set because she was struggling with the heat. So, I was lucky about that. But I think that we definitely have an advantage because we are used to the heat already. I think that will give us an edge in the tougher matches."
            -- Barry senior Judith Bohnenkamp

ON THE HORIZON:

Barry will play ninth-ranked Academy of Art from San Francisco, Calif., in the NCAA Quarterfinals at 7:00 pm Eastern on Wednesday, May. 9.

BOX SCORE