The FGCU women’s tennis team (9-7, 5-0 A-SUN) claimed their second straight A-SUN regular season championship as they defeated UNF (15-7, 5-1 A-SUN) by a score of 4-3. The win for the Eagles was the second straight win against UNF and the Eagles are now 2-13 s against the Ospreys. In addition to the win, the Eagles are now the No. 1 seed in the conference tournament.
“I am really proud of this team, and the fight they show,” said head coach Courtney Vernon. “North Florida is always tough. We are excited for another opportunity to compete on Saturday, and we are so excited to honor Julianna.”
Beginning with the doubles portion of the matchup, the duo of junior Patricia Villar and freshman Madison Gallegos began with a quick win on their match at No. 3 doubles as they defeated the freshmen duo of Valentina Mariotto and Florencia Rossi by a score of 6-1.The Ospreys would fight back as the duo of sophomore Lucia Montano and freshman Eva Nyikos defeated senior Julianna Curtis and junior Laura Falceto Font by a score 7-5 at  No. 2 doubles. After three match point chances, the duo of junior Julia Ascua and sophomore Maja Ornberg fell 6-7 (7-9) to junior Rafaela Gomez and senior Luise Intert in a heart-breaking decider at No. 1 doubles, giving UNF the doubles point.
Going into singles, Gallegos would be the first to fall as she lost 4-6, 1-6 to Montano at the No. 3 singles. Falceto Font would fall next, losing 1-6, 2-6 to Intert in No. 4 singles.
With the score 3-0 in favor of UNF, the Eagles attempted to mount a comeback as sophomore Bridget Forster would open with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Rossi at No. 6 singles. Ascua would then follow with a win of her own at  No. 2 singles as she defeated Nyikos by a score of 6-3, 7-5.
With two matches left for both teams, the Eagles were able to tie the matchup as Ornberg, who was slightly down in the second set, bounced back to win 6-3, 6-4 against Gomez playing at No. 1 singles.
The decider came down to Mariotto and sophomore Sofia Perez at the No. 5 singles match. Having not played UNF at all for conference, Perez would drop in the first set but was able to mount a strong comeback to win in the second set, thus sending the match to a third set. Seemingly unfazed at the result, with the final score at 40-30 in favor of Perez, the Costa Rica native managed to secure the final set as she won 1-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The Eagles return to action at home to wrap up their final conference match as they face Stetson on April 14 at 5 P.M. The match will be listed as Senior Day(?) as the team recognizes 2017 ITA Scholar-Athlete, 2016 A-SUN All-Conference Second Team member, two-time A-SUN All-Academic Team honoree and defending A-SUN Scholar Athlete of the Year Julianna Curtis.