Barry and NSU: national powerhouses in women’s tennis set to collide once again
The women’s tennis teams from Barry University and Nova Southeastern University appear to be on a collision course for the third straight year.
Barry (21-1) is ranked No. 1 in the nation among NCAA Division II schools.
NSU (20-3) is ranked No. 2.
Barry beat NSU in the 2023 finals, winning its eighth national title since 2011.
NSU beat Barry in the 2024 final, winning its first national title.
This year, the Barry Bucs are 2-0 against NSU, beating the Sharks 6-1 on April 10 and 4-3 on April 27.
Barry’s only loss this season was to a Division I program, falling 4-3 at Florida Gulf Coast. Only one of those seven matches went to a third-set tiebreaker, and Barry lost that confrontation, handing FGCU the victory.
Since then, the Bucs have won 18 straight matches.
This year, both Barry and NSU are hosting regionals, which start on Monday.
NSU’s opening-round match is against unranked Tuskegee. Fifth-ranked West Alabama and 16th-ranked Lee are in the other half of the bracket.
Barry will get a first-round bye before playing on Tuesday against the winner between Embry-Riddle and Mississippi College.
The winner of all 16 regionals will go to the NCAA finals set for May 21-25 at Altamonte Springs.
If the seeds hold, Barry and NSU will meet in the championship match on May 25.
NSU is led by Croatian senior Ita Habekovic and FIU transfer Kristyna Hranacova of the Czech Republic.
Habekovic, primarily playing No. 2 singles, is 19-2. Hranacova, primarily playing at No. 1, is 17-4.
Barry is led by Ukraine’s Viktoriia Dema and Russia’s Maria Tatarnikova, a transfer from Drake.
Dema went 14-3, joining the NSU duo on the All-Sunshine State Conference first team.
Barry’s doubles team of Ailen Crespo and Andrea Di Palma also made the SSC first team.
However, in their most recent matchup against NSU, Crespo and Di Palma lost to Isabella Ciancaglini and Hranacova, 6-4.
And in the most recent matchup between first-team All-SSC singles players, NSU’s Habekovic beat Dema, 7-5, 6-2.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Barry’s men’s tennis team (18-3), which has won five national titles since 2010, will open the NCAA playoffs on Friday against sixth-seeded Florida Southern. Barry is the third seed and also ranked third in the nation.
▪ St. Thomas University’s softball team, seeded fourth, will play fifth-seeded Johnson in the opening game of the NAIA national championships at Georgia Gwinnett College.
▪ NSU women’s golf team, ranked eighth in the nation, has qualified for nationals for the third straight year. NSU’s Rosanna Halls of England finished third at the regionals in Gainesville, Georgia. The national tournament will start May 13 in Boulder City, Nevada.
▪ At Miami Dade College’s recently-held awards banquet, the men’s and women’s basketball teams were honored. The men finished 19-13 – their best record in a decade. They also produced their first win at the state championships since 2014.
▪ MDC’s women improved from 6-24 in 2023-2024 to 21-10 this past season. That 15-victory improvement gave the Sharks their first winning record since 2019-2020.