Women's Tennis | 3/9/2019 11:53:00 AM

THE STORY
• The Bloomsburg University men's and women's tennis teams take the court for the first time in the 2019 spring season this week when they travel to Orlando, Florida, for several matches at the USTA National Tennis Center. The women's team with play five matches over the course of five days against Shippensburg, St. Thomas Aquinas, Immaculata, Bentley, and Ithaca, while the men will take part in three matches with St. Thomas Aquinas, Bentley, and Ithaca.

PREVIEWING THE HUSKIES
• The women's team played just one dual match in the fall, an impressive 5-2 win over Seton Hill. The Huskies took two of the three doubles matches to earn the point in the team scoring. Seniors Cassie Wentz (Windber, Pa./Winber Area) and Siena Cerra (Levittown, Pa./Neshaminy) teamed up for a 6-3 victory at #3 doubles and junior Cassidy Calimer (Egg Harbor City, N.J./Absegami) paired with sophomore Isabella Sarquis (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Metodo) for the doubles-clinching 7-6 (7-1) win at #2. Cerra got the Huskies on the board in singles after posting a 6-2, 6-4 win at #6 to give Bloomsburg a 2-1 lead. Wentz knocked off Salazar, 7-5, 6-0, at #4 and Sarquis finished off the match with a 6-4, 6-3 victory at #5. Bloomsburg's other singles victory came from Calimer who defeated Kaelyn Zak - 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 10-2 - at #2.

• Junior Taylor Capoferri (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) and sophomore Giovanna Bonito (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Colegio Reino) were tremendous for the Huskies in the fall. Capoferri was 4-1 as Bloomsburg's #1 singles competitor, and went 2-1 when teamed with Bonito in doubles. Bonito was also 3-1 at #3 singles. Calimer posted a 3-1 fall record at #2 singles, and had a 3-1 doubles record. Haille Hoeflein (Easton, Pa./Easton) notched a 3-0 singles record, and Wentz went 2-0 in singles action.

• The Huskies went 9-6 and earned their first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East championship since 2013-14 a season ago. Four Huskies earned All-PSAC honors, as Sophomore Vitoria Nery (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Educandário Santa Maria Goretti) and Bonito were named to the All-PSAC East first team in singles, while Nery and doubles partner Calimer were also named to the first team for doubles play. Sarquis was named to the All-PSAC East second team for singles, and head coach Marty was named the women's PSAC East Coach of the Year.

• The Bloomsburg men's team is also coming off a strong fall campaign that saw the Huskies go 14-11 as a team in singles competition, and 9-1 in doubles. Bloomsburg had a strong showing at the 2018 PSAC Individual Championships back in September, with Lucas Pedrotti (Caxias do Sul, Brazil/Sao Jose) and Benjamin Tauber (Bethlehem, Pa./Nazareth Area) both notching wins in their first round matches. Pedrotti, who entered as the number two seed in the tournament, advanced to the quarterfinals after a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kutztown's Josh Carl, but would drop a 6-2, 7-5 semifinal battle with Edinboro's Mateus Santos. Pedrotti and sophomore Bernardo Abreu (Belo Horizonte, Brazil/Rogedo) also competed in the doubles tournament, posting an 8-4 opening round win over Mercyhurst before bowing out with an 8-3 loss to Kutztown in the semifinals.

• Pedrotti and Abreu were 3-1 as the Huskies lead singles team this fall, while Pedrotti posted a 2-2 singles record. Abreu and Robin Luetzig (Hadamar, Germany/Furst Johann Ludwig Schule) both had 2-0 singles records, while sophomore Guille Carranza (Sevilla, Spain/Escolapios) was 2-1. Carranza and Nagid Walle (Willemstad, Curacao/Saint Andrews (Fla.)) were 2-0 as a doubles tandem, while Luetzig/Tauber and Quin Bucheit (Shoemakersville, Pa./Hamburg)/Vinny De Camargo (Sao Paulo, Brazil/Servico Social da Industria) were also 2-0 in doubles competition. Walle and Pedrotti earned All-PSAC Second Team honors as freshmen in 2017-18 after recording a team-high seven wins.

LOOKING AHEAD
• Following the Florida trip, the Huskies will return to the court on Thursday, March 28, for a home match with Fairleigh Dickinson. Bloomsburg's first taste of PSAC competition will be on Saturday, March 30, at Millersville. First serve with Fairleigh Dickinson is set for 3:00 p.m.