Women's tennis team falls in Region 8 match

The Eastern Florida State College women's tennis team lost a Region 8 match Friday afternoon at Titan Tennis Center.

The Titans, who are now 1-2 in the region, lost 6-3 to St. Petersburg College who even the season series 1-1.

The match of the day was at No. 2 singles where Maria Gento rallied back from a slow start to play a tight match with St. Petersburg's Maria Moskaltsova. Moskaltsova came out strong in the first set, taking advantage of Gento's slow start to win the first set 6-0.

But the sophomore came out in the second set strong and led 4-1 on her way to a 6-2 win and tied the match 1-1.

The third set was tied 4-4 when Gento broke Moskaltsova to take a 5-4 lead but Moskaltsova came back with a break to tie it 5-5. It would remain tied 6-6 and head to the tiebreaker.

It was close throughout but Moskaltsova held on for the win 7-4.

Sara Valentino Ladino teamed up with Leticia Orlandov to win at No. 3 doubles 8-2 as St. Petersburg took a 2-1 lead after the doubles matches.

Dasha Moskalenko trailed 4-3 in the first set but got things going and rallied to win the first set 6-4. Moskalenko won the final two points to pick up the victory, winning 6-4 in the second set.

Ladino continued playing well as she would lead right from the start, taking the first set 6-1 and then did the same in the second set to pick up the victory.

Eastern Florida State College will travel to Hillsborough on April 11 for the final Region 8 match of the regular season. The match will begin at 11 a.m.

The Titans will travel to Southeastern University on Tuesday, April 8 for a non-conference match at 2 p.m.

The FCSAA Division I Women's Tennis Championship will be April 17-18 in Tampa.