This South Florida university won its 19th national championship, this time in tennis

The Barry University Bucs women’s tennis team battled all kinds of obstacles last Friday — intense heat, whipping winds, extra-fast courts … and also the fourth-ranked West Florida Argonauts.

Barry coach Avi Kigel and his seven main players — five of them from Germany — vanquished all of those “opponents” to win their second consecutive NCAA Division II national championship. It was the 19th national title for Barry sports, and the women’s tennis program, with four, has more trophies than anyone else at the school.

Friday’s final started at 1 p.m. Arizona time, when the sun was blazing.

“It was super hot — 105 degrees,” said Barry’s Sonja Larsen, the Bucs’ top singles player and one of the fab five from Germany. “The dry air made it hard to breathe. The balls were flying because of the altitude, and the wind was incredible.”

Kigel said the wind was flowing at 22 mph with gusts blowing nearly twice as hard, but that was not enough to stop the top-ranked Bucs, who finished the season 28-0, earning their 58th consecutive win.

When the wind was at the Bucs’ backs, they tried to hit low, flat shots. When hitting into the wind, Bucs players used the gusts to their advantage, striking balls with wicked spin.

The plan worked, and the Bucs culminated a taxing Arizona stretch in which they defeated Missouri’s Drury University, 5-0; San Francisco’s Academy of Art, 5-2; Georgia’s Columbus State, 5-3; and West Florida — all in four days.

Kigel, who has a 248-22 record — including four national titles — in 10 years as Barry’s coach, said there’s a similarity between his 2017 and 2018 teams.

“I never had to worry about effort last year or this season,” Kigel said. “Last year, we were a little bit more talented, with more depth. But this year’s team was very cohesive.”

Larsen, a senior, finished her college career with a program-record 83 wins. Her 83-6 record gave her a 93.3 winning percentage, which ranks second in Barry history.

She also went 50-1 her final two years — 28-0 as a junior and 22-1 as a senior. Ranked fifth in the nation in singles, Larsen went a team-best 7-1 against nationally ranked players.

Larsen also posted a 25-2 record in doubles.

“Sonja is one of the most decorated players in Barry history,” Kigel said. “Besides her level of tennis, her biggest contribution was her positive personality. In four years here, she never had a bad day at practice.”

Here’s a quick look at Barry’s other key players, based on how they were used in the championship match:

▪ No. 2 singles: Verena Schmid, a 5-10 junior from Germany, is ranked 34th nationally. She went 17-1 in singles, including 6-1 against nationally ranked players, and 25-2 in doubles.

▪ No. 3: Hannah Seizer, a 5-8 junior from Germany, went 11-7 in singles and 23-4 in doubles.

▪ No.4: Zuza Maciejewska, a 6-2 junior from Poland, is ranked 68th nationally. The tallest player on the team, she went 12-2 in singles and 23-1 as her team’s most reliable doubles player.

▪ No. 5: Carolin Schmidt, a 5-9 sophomore from Germany, went 19-0 in singles and 26-2 in doubles.

▪ No. 6: Julie Razafindranaly, a 5-5 freshman from France. went 21-0 in singles and 23-4 in doubles.

It was key that Larsen and Schmid combined for a 13-2 record against nationally ranked players. But it was also crucial that Schmidt and Razafindranaly went a combined 40-0 in singles, giving Barry superlative quality at the bottom of its lineup.

“That’s why we were so confident,” Larsen said. “When we play practice matches, we are all at about the same level. We know we’re super strong in the back.”

That includes Judith Bohnenkamp, a 5-8 senior from Germany who filled in this season when Maciejewska battled a foot injury and an illness.

Looking ahead to next year, the Bucs will have to replace seniors Larsen and Bohnenkamp, but Kigel returns five key players from a national-title team and hopes to add two standout recruits as well.

“With everybody who is coming back, I’m happy about that,” Kigel said. “We’re looking to have another strong team so we can defend our title.”

This story was originally published May 14, 2018 at 5:09 PM with the headline "This South Florida university won its 19th national championship, this time in tennis."