CORAL GABLES, Fla. – FGCU's
June Bjork and
Nora Svensson dominated their Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Southeast Regional Championships Round of 16 match and came as close as you can be to upsetting a doubles team from No. 3 Georgia on Sunday morning.
The Eagles pair fell, 8-7 (8-6), to Georgia's Emma Dong and Ranah Akua Stoiber in the quarterfinals, ending their run at the tournament hosted at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Miami.
It marked the conclusion of one of the most successful runs in program history for the junior duo. FGCU's previous best doubles run at the ITA Regionals came in 2015 when the team of Elizabeth Means and Branna Stampfli advanced to the Round of 16 before being knocked out, 8-2, by No. 54 Josie Kuhlman/Belinda Woolcock of Florida.
Bjork and Svensson, seeded ninth, opened the day with a dominating 8-2 win over USF's Zoe Lazar and Kelly Loana Vargas Gonzalez. That win avenged an earlier season loss to Lazar and teammate Margherita Marcon at the Bedford Cup.
Advancing to face the fourth-seeded Bulldog pair of Dong and Stoiber. The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead before UGA's pair fought back to force a 4-4 tie. The two teams would trade games until Bjork and Svensson had match point at 7-6, but the tandem from No. 3 Georgia fought back to win the game and send the match to a tiebreaking final point.
Much like the rest of the match, the tiebreaker was a trading of points until 6-6, when UGA would fight for the final two points to claim the tiebreaker, 8-6, and the match, 8-7.
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