ORLANDO, Fla. (Seminoles.com) — In 2018 the FSU women’s tennis team advanced to the NCAA Quarterfinals for the first time in program history. Three years later, they are back. The seventh-seeded Seminoles defeated 10th-seeded Texas A&M 4-2 in the Round of 16 Sunday afternoon to move into the final eight teams still in the hunt for the 2021 National Championship.
FSU struck first taking the doubles point. It is the 10th time in the last 11 matches that the Seminoles have gone in front by winning doubles. Petra Hule and Giulia Pairone moved through their match quickly, securing the first win on line three with a 6-2 victory. The other two matches were much more closely contested. The Seminoles’ top two pairs, Andrea Garcia and Nandini Das and Emmanuelle Salas and Giulia Pairone, both were tied at 5-5 in their matches. Both won the next game to move to 6-5 in front and then FSU closed it out on court one as Salas and Allen secured the point for the Seminoles with a 7-5 win.
Texas A&M advanced to the Round of 16 last week after dropping the doubles point and winning 4-1 and was looking for a repeat performance versus the Seminoles. The Aggies did draw first blood in singles, evening the match at 1-1. Allen quickly moved FSU back into the lead as she improved her win streak to eight matches to make it a 2-1 FSU edge but Texas A&M once again evened it up with a win on court one.
The match came down to a best 2-of-3 in three, third set matches on courts 3, 4 and 6. Das took the first of the final three matches to put the Seminoles on the brink of the quarterfinals. The senior won 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 to move to 2-0 in the 2021 NCAA Tournament and put FSU up 3-2. Hule then finished the win off as she stretched her win streak to nine matches with a 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1 clinching victory.
FSU will face the winner of N0. 2 Texas and Ohio State Wednesday. The time and broadcast info is TBA. For more information about the 2021 NCAA Championship, TV and live stream coverage and match times, please follow us on social at FSUWTennis (IG) and @FSU_WTennis (TW) and log on to Seminoles.com.
