Softball teams wins bracket in FSU Invitational

It wasn't the championship the Florida State University softball team was looking for but the Seminoles will definitely take all the wins they picked up over the weekend.

The host school used a five-run fourth inning en route to a 7-2 win over St. John's on Sunday to capture the Silver bracket championship of the Florida State Invitational.

The Seminoles completed a week in which they went 7-1 to improve their record to 18-9. St. John's dropped to 10-10.

"Their pitcher struggled a little bit early and I think we took advantage of that," FSU head coach Dr. JoAnne Graf said. "I think we were a little bit more selective and we hit the ball hard. I think this weekend helped our confidence. Even though we were in the Silver Bracket, we at least one the championship and learning how to win those kind of games is important."

Following two rough outings to start her career, hurler Kayla Collins threw her second complete game of the season. The freshman right-hander gave up just two runs on six hits with four strikeouts. The Red Storm's Lisa Geer took the loss, dropping her to 2-4.

"For a freshman, as many innings as she's going to pitch she's going to get stronger and stronger," Graf noted. "It was good for her to get the complete game because with the conference season starting tomorrow we need as many fresh arms as possible."

After a pair of singles to open the game by left fielder Natasha Jacob and right fielder Whitney Buckmon, the Seminoles scored their two runs in the top of the first without putting a bat on the ball.

With one, center fielder Carly Brieske was walked to load the bases. One out later first baseman Brittany Osmon was walked, scoring Jacob. The first pitch to designated player Kim Hoffer was wild, allowing Buckmon to score and give Florida State a 2-0 advantage.

Florida State opened up a 7-0 lead when it pushed five more runs across in the fourth inning. With one out, catcher BillieAnne Gay drilled a single. Jacob followed with her second hit of the day - her 14th career triple - to score Gay. Buckmon followed with her second hit of the afternoon, an infield single, then advanced to second on an attempt to pick off Jacob. Second baseman Veronica Wootson laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to plate both Jacob and Buckmon.

Brieske picked up her second free pass of the day with a walk. Shortstop Yuruby Alicart chased Geer out of the game with a two-run home run to dead center field.

"I think she's seeing it well, Graf said of Alicart. "She's got a small body, but she's got a lot of power in that body. She's a great hitter and every day she's getting more and more used to Division I pitching so I think she's going to improve as the season goes on."

The seven runs would be more than enough for Collins. Even though she allowed at least one runner to get on in five of the first six innings, the Red Storm did not have a runner get past second base until the seventh inning when they scored their two runs.

FSU upsets Georgia Tech in men's tennis

The Florida State men's tennis team picked up its first Atlantic Coast Conference victory of the season in style, upsetting No. 18 Georgia Tech, 7-0, Sunday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center.

The Seminoles won their third match of the week and improved to 8-7 overall and 1-1 in league play. The Yellow Jackets dropped to 6-3 on the season and 0-3.

"This was the first match of the season that I thought every single player competed well," Florida State head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. "From a team standout point, this was definitely our best match of the season."

The teams split matches at Nos. 2 and 3 doubles. First, Florida State's Sam Chang and Jonathas Sucupira picked up their first dual match win as a pair, taking down Tech's Jordan Delass and George Gvelesiani, 8-5, at No. 3. The Jackets' Scott Blackmon and Zachary Rath evened the doubles score with an 8-4 win over FSU's Andrew Bailey and Maciek Sykut.

The deciding match happened at No. 1 where Marko Rajevac and David North of Tech held a 7-4 advantage on Florida State's Ytai Abougzir and Chris Westerhof before the Seminole pair stormed back and won five straight games for the thrilling 9-7 victory.

"The key point of the match was when Chris reflexed the volley to the corner to tie it up 7-all," Hultquist said. "We then finally broke Rajevac's serve and that was important because until that stage we had not had a break point on him all day. We rolled from there and it was a great win for Chris and Ytai."

The Seminoles claimed all six singles matches in straight sets for the sweep. At center court, Abougzir made quick work of the Jackets' Rajevac, 6-3, 6-2, to hand FSU a 2-0 lead. Next, Maciek Sykut lifted the Seminoles to a 3-0 lead when he defeated Delass, 6-2, 6-2, at No. 4. The match was clinched when Sucupira upended North at the second position, 6-3, 6-3.

Although they clinched the team win, the Seminoles were not quite done on their home turf, cruising to wins at Nos. 3, 5, and 6. Chang beat Zachary Rath, 7-5, 6-2, at the third spot and Westerhof defeated Gvelesiani, 7-5, 6-2, at No. 5. For the sweep, FSU freshman Chris Cloer won his fourth straight match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Scott Blackmon in the sixth slot.

'Noles fall to Aggies

The FSU men's tennis team ended its three-match road trip on a sour note late Thursday, falling 4-3 to Texas A&M at College Station, Texas.

The teams split the first two doubles matches with FSU winning at the No. 1 line and A&M winning at the No. 3 position. A&M's Matt Bain and Jerry Makowksi then gave the Aggies a 1-0 lead as they overcame a 4-1 deficit and won the No. 2 line, 9-7, against Maciek Sykut and Andrew Bailey.

Losing the doubles team point overshadowed the fact that junior Ytai Abougzir and senior Chris Westerhof recorded its second Top 25 upset in as many weeks. The duo first overcame the No. 1 pair against Ohio State and they also finished off the Aggies' No. 25-ranked duo of Joelson and Wooten.

A&M won the first three singles matches to be completed, clinching the victory before FSU tallied its first point. Makowski defeated Abougzir, 6-2, 6-1, at No. 1, and Mohamed Dakki gave A&M a 2-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Sykut at No. 5. John Nallon held off Westerhof, 7-5, 7-6 (4), at the No. 4 line to put the Aggies ahead, 4-0.

The remaining three singles matches were decided in three sets, with the Seminoles coming out on top on each court.

Women's team falls to Maryland

The Florida State women's tennis team came up short against No. 28 Maryland, falling in a 4-3 decision at College Park, Md. FSU fell to 8-5 on the season and 1-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference play. The Terrapins improved to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in league action.

Maryland won the doubles point with victories at all three courts for the first team point of the day. The Seminoles went with a slightly different lineup in singles action and found success at Nos. 3, 4, and 5.

Sophomore Tapiwa Marobela defeated Veronika Subertova in three sets by scores of 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, and junior Nicola Slater improved her winning streak with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory against Neda Mihneva. FSU picked up its third point from freshman Suzanna Mansour who overpowered Jennifer Dent 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

FSU topples BC

In the first ever women's tennis match between Florida State and Boston College, the Seminoles knocked off the Eagles, 4-3, Friday afternoon.

In singles, the teams split the six matches. Florida State claimed victories at Nos. 4, 5, and 6. Slater topped Sullivan 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 at No. 3 while the Seminoles' Suzanna Mansour beat Sarah Svoboda, 6-1, 6-1, at No. 5. Whitney Eber wasted no time defeating the Eagles' Gia Nafarrete, 6-2, 6-1, in the sixth slot.

Florida State senior Alina Mihailescu neared an upset over Boston College's Lana Krasnopolsky (ranked No. 73 in the country). However, Knrasnopolsky eventually edged her 6-0, 5-7, 6-4.

The two schools agreed to play doubles last and Florida State picked up wins at Nos. 2 and 3 for the doubles point and team win. The Eber/Slater pair topped Szilvia Szegedi and Alina Sullivan, 8-5, at No. 2 and Tapiwa Marobela and Mihailescu beat Sarah Svoboda and Nafarette, 8-3.

"We are trying different things in doubles and moving people around," Hyde commented. "We had new doubles pairings at No. 2 and we are slowly but surely finding things that will work. For right now it's working and it's only a matter of time before it all comes together."

Men's golf team third

The Florida State University men's golf team was in third place Sunday after the first two rounds of the General Jim Hackler Invitational at the TPC of Myrtle Beach. The Seminoles were led by freshman Nicholas Smith, who was in a tie for fifth place in the individual standings after carding a pair of one-under par scores of 71.

He was only two strokes behind Rhys Davies of East Tennessee State, who led eight golfers who shot under-par golf during the first two rounds of the event.

Florida State is looking for its third top-three team finish of the spring. The Seminoles finished in third place in the season-opening Gator Invitational and in second at the Lexus/Naples Intercollegiate during the last week of February.

East Tennessee State, led by Davies, leads the team standings with a two-round team total of 575. The Buccaneers are five strokes ahead of Coastal Carolina and 13 strokes in front of Florida State. The Seminoles were in third place after the first round and maintained their position over the second round of 36 holes.

Westrup leads women's team

Freshman Caroline Westrup finished in second place in the individual standings to lead the Seminole women's golf team to a third-place finish in the Lady Gamecock Classic in South Carolina. Westrup finished with an even-par 216 for the three-round event and finished only five strokes behind Maria Martinez of Auburn, the individual champion.

Final-round action wrapped up Sunday at the 2006 Lady Gamecock Classic with No. 6 Auburn emerging as the team champion with a three-round score of 879. Auburn's Maria Martinez emerged as the individual medalist, carding a five-under-par 211 to finish five strokes ahead of Florida State's Caroline Westrup for the title. Her three-round score of 211 established a new Lady Gamecock Classic record, breaking the existing record of 212.