01/22/2026

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Florida Gulf Coast University women’s tennis team returns home Friday following a 7-0 loss to the University of Miami, looking to bounce back against Florida A&M University and Middle Tennessee State University.

The Eagles face FAMU at 10 a.m. Friday and MTSU at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Despite the recent team loss to the Hurricanes, FGCU’s No. 2 doubles pair of Nora Svensson and Anjali Kotecha remains a bright spot. The duo earned a gritty 7-5 win over Miami’s Daria Volosova and Maria Vargas, improving their doubles record to 3-0 on the young season.

FAMU

Florida A&M travels to Fort Myers after last competing in the Stetson Invitational in DeLand from Oct. 31 to Nov. 2.

The Rattlers found success in singles play during the tournament’s opening day, picking up three wins over Murray State. Larissa Silva defeated Yuna Kadowaki 6-2, 6-1; Alyynah Thomas beat Molly Null 6-4, 6-0; and Amber Beautelus swept Barbora Hermanova 4-0, 4-0.

On the second day, Gabriella Pierce earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Embry-Riddle’s Mariana Cabrera.

FAMU closed out the event with a doubles win as Reagan Harris and Pierce defeated Georgia Southern’s Lisen Rinman and Mackenzie Leopold 7-5.

MTSU

Middle Tennessee last competed in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Ohio Valley Regional in Knoxville, Tennessee, in mid-October.

Rutuja Chaphalkar led the Blue Raiders in singles, winning a three-set battle against Eastern Kentucky’s Mariia Fedenko (2-6, 6-4, 6-2) and a straight-set match against Indiana’s Mansi Vadyala (6-3, 7-6 [4]) before falling to Vanderbilt’s Valeria Ray.

In doubles action, the pair of Sthefany Rodrigues and Chaphalkar opened with an 8-1 win over Indiana’s Sara Jankovic and Kallyhan Kadzinski. Additionally, Lena Peyer and Sadbaroy Kholdarova notched an 8-2 victory over Murray State’s Sofia Issakova and Valeria Chaikovskaia.