FLORENCE, S.C.-The nationally ranked Francis Marion College tennis teams won a pair of matches against visiting Barton College on Saturday afternoon at Kassab Courts.
The No. 13 Lady Patriots won 8-1 while the No. 14 FMU men won 9-0. Both Francis Marion squads remain undefeated on the early season at 2-0.
Barton started its season Saturday after Thursday's originally scheduled season-openers against Shaw University were postponed due to inclement weather. The home contests against the Bears have been rescheduled for March 10 at 2 p.m.
Freshman Carol Fischer (Socorro, Brazil) provided the Royal Blue and White with its only victory of the day with a win at No. 5 singles. Fischer won the first set 6-4 but FMU's Kathryn Vernon tied the match with her own 6-4 win in the second. Fischer responded with a dominating 10-0 shutout in the third superset.
The Francis Marion women's squad won the other five singles matches in straight sets. Freshman Mika Deane (Auckland, New Zealand) started her collegiate dual match career in the top slot for the Lady Bulldogs and battled valiantly in a 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 35 nationally ranked Jitka Gavdunova.
BC sophomore Lindsey Frederick (Goldsboro, N.C.) drew an even higher ranked player in the second slot. Frederick was swept by No. 31 Mona Blauen.
Dean and junior Lindsay Toth (Sewickley, Pa.) scored one point against the Lady Patriots No. 5 nationally ranked doubles duo of Gavdunova and Blauen to prevent three 8-0 sweeps in doubles play.
On the men's side, Francis Marion squeaked out three doubles wins before completing the shutout by winning all six singles matches in straight sets. The Patriots won 8-5, 8-6, and 8-2 to take the 3-nil advantage into singles play.
The marquee matchup pitted FMU's Oshada Wijemanne and BC's Cesar Grobel (Sao Paulo, Brazil) against each other in the top draw. No. 3 Wijemanne narrowly won the first set 7-5 against No. 32 Grobel – the reigning Conference Carolinas Player of the Year – before taking the match 6-1 in the second.
The next closest match occurred in the fourth spot as Bulldogs' junior Renato Mendes (Brazil) forced a tiebreaker in the first set but lost to Tanguy Montoisy 7-6 (2), 6-2.
Barton next travels to Murfreesboro, N.C., for a non-conference showdown with the Hawks of Chowan University on Tuesday at 2 p.m.
