FORT MYERS, FL – The FGCU women's tennis team (5-7) was narrowly defeated by Gonzaga (8-7) in a final score of, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon at the FGCU Tennis Complex.

"Today was a tough match. We're continuing to grow as players each time we step onto the court," said head coach Courtney Vernon. "The bottom line is we need to stick to the plan and trust our game in the opportunity points. We're grateful we have two more matches this week to continue to challenge ourselves."  

In doubles play, the Zags snagged a 1-0 lead claiming a third-set tiebreaker on the top court. FGCU fell on court No. 3, but bounced back on court No. 2 as the tandem of Julia Fisch (New York, NY/Arizona State) and Sara Kelly (Naples, FL/Florida Virtual School) produced a 6-4 victory. Coming down to the premiere court, Maja Ornberg (Kil, Sweden/De la Gardiegymnasiet, Lidkoping) and Sofia Perez (Alajuela, Costa Rica/Florida Virtual School) trailed 4-1 at one point, before reeling off four-straight points to jump ahead 5-4. The match would go into a third-set tiebreaker where the Zags claimed a 7-4 win.

In singles action, GU captured courts Nos. 2 and 3 to take a 3-0 margin before the Eagles manufactured three-straight wins to tie the match 3-3. Lourdes Ramalle (Buenos Aires, Argentina/Portland) came out on top on court No. 6 in straight sets (6-3, 6-0), while Kelly earned a straight-set win on court No. 3 (6-4, 6-0).

On court No. 5, Ida Ferding (Vasteras, Sweden/Akademi Bastad Gymnasium) battled back from a 0-6 deficit in the second set to come out victorious in her third set tiebreaker, 7-5, leaving the deciding point all on the top court.

Tied at one set apiece, court No. 1 produced the second third-set match of the day as Ornberg fell, 6-3. Including singles and doubles play, Wednesday's match lasted just over four hours.

Singles competition
1. KETELS, Kate (GON) def. ORNBERG, Maja (FGCU) 6-7 (1-7), 6-3, 6-3
2. BROERMAN, Cate (GON) def. PEREZ, Sofia (FGCU) 6-1, 6-2
3. TSURUTA, Haruna (GON) def. MOMOSE, Satomi (FGCU) 6-1, 6-0
4. KELLY, Sara (FGCU) def. MEDVEDCOVA, Vlada (GON) 6-4, 6-0
5. FERDING, Ida (FGCU) def. GRUBER, Taylor (GON) 0-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5)
6. RAMALLE, Lourdes (FGCU) def. SLOAN, Jenna (GON) 6-3, 6-0

Doubles competition
1. MEDVEDCOVA, Vlada/KETELS, Kate (GON) def. ORNBERG, Maja/PEREZ, Sofia (FGCU) 7-6 (7-4)
2. KELLY, Sara/FISCH, Julia (FGCU) def. TSURUTA, Haruna/BROERMAN, Cate (GON) 6-4
3. GRUBER, Taylor/SLOAN, Jenna (GON) def. FERDING, Ida/MOMOSE, Satomi (FGCU) 6-3

Up Next
FGCU returns to the courts Saturday morning taking on James Madison at 10 a.m.

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HEAD COACH COURTNEY VERNON
FGCU's women's tennis team is led by three-time ASUN Coach of the Year Courtney Vernon (entering 7th season) who led the Eagles to back-to-back ASUN regular-season crowns in her fifth season in 2018. She has mentored her student-athletes into earning 59 ASUN All-Conference and All-Academic honors, including 2014, 2016 and 2017 ASUN Freshman of the Year as well as the 2016, 2017 and 2019 Scholar-Athlete of the Year and the 2018 Player of the Year. Vernon has led the Green and Blue to a 77-57 overall record (.575) and 32-8 conference record (.800).