Patriot doubles teams sweep to wins at ITA Nationals

MOBILE, AL - The Francis Marion University women's tennis doubles team of Tereza Sykorova and Sabina Baberadova won two matches on Thursday (Oct. 15) and the men's duo of Oshada Wijemanne and Dilshod Sharifi won its quarterfinal match at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) National Small College Championships.

The four-day event is being held at the Copeland-Cox Tennis Center in Mobile, Ala.

Sykorova and Baberadova, seeded second, defeated Kate Lowder and Victoria Sargent of Mesa State College 6-2, 6-1 in a quarterfinal match and then beat Nina Kowalski and Laurie Navarro of California University of Pennsylvania 6-2, 6-3 in a semifinal match. 

The FMU pair will meet the top-seeded team of Yuan Jia and Seul Ki Chin of BYU-Hawaii in the Division II championship match on Friday at 6 p.m.

The winner of that match will advance to this weekend's Super Bowl of small college tennis against the Division III, NAIA, and Junior College/Community College champions.

Wijemanne and Sharifi, also seeded second, beat Diego Gimenez and Joseph Boesing of the University of Southern Indiana 6-4, 6-3 in their quarterfinal match on Thursday.  The FMU pair will now face Armaun Emami and Austin West of the University of California-San Diego in Friday's semifinals at 2:30 p.m.  The men's championship match is set for Friday at 6 p.m.

Last month the two FMU squads each won their respective A Flight championships at the ITA Southeast Regional Tournament in Sumter, S.C.

Wijemanne and Sharifi ended the 2008-09 season ranked seventh nationally in Division II with a 16-3 mark, while Sykorova and Baberadova were ranked 14th at the end of last season with a 16-2 record.

The only previous FMU men's player to advance to the National Small College Championships was Kevin Taylor, who played in the 2005 singles draw.  Lee Whitwell and Mary Hirst played in the women's doubles bracket in both 1993 and 1994, and Whitwell played in the 1993 singles competition. No Patriot tennis player has ever won the ITA Division II national title.