Over the weekend the Stetson Tennis Club traveled to Tallahassee to compete in the Florida State University College Capital Challenge.  The first day of the competition was pool play, which the Hatters were grouped with Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida State University, and University of South Florida. Each match was best of five series between the teams.  The Hatters faced FGCU first.  The first match was Men’s Doubles with the pair of Nick Edwards and Logan Reid winning 6-3. In the Women’s Doubles the pair of Taylor Day and Erin Davis lost 3-6, tying the series 1-1.  Kali Ballard won the Women’s Single match 6-2, while Nick Edwards lost a close one 5-6, making the Mixed Doubles match the series deciding match. The team of Erin Davis and Dan Lozada won the match 6-4; giving Stetson the win at 3-2.    

                The second match of pool play was against the host team, FSU.  The Seminoles were no match for the Hatters, with Stetson winning all five matches.  The Men’s Doubles team of Dan Lozada and Logan Reid won straight sets 6-0, with the Women’s Doubles team being awarded a forfeit victory. Kali Ballard won a close Women’s Single match 6-5, while Logan Reid won easily in 7 sets, 6-1 in the Men’s Single.  To wrap the match up the Mixed Doubles team of Taylor Day and Nick Edwards won 6-0.

The last match of pool play would prove to be the toughest for the Hatters, when they faced USF.  The match started at 9pm, which meant after a long day on the courts the Hatters had one more match to complete before calling it a day at the tournament.  In the first match of the series, the Hatters with the team of Dan Lozada and Logan Reid led 3-1, but gave up a late rally by USF to fall 3-6.  The Women’s Doubles team of Taylor Day and Erin Davis also dropped their match 1-6.  Nick Edwards and Kali Ballard tried to regain momentum in their single matches, but both lost 2-6. In the final match of the day, the Hatters Mixed Doubles team of Taylor Day and Logan Reid fought hard against the Bulls, but lost 0-6.           

After long first day of the tournament, the Hatters were tied for first place in points for the tournament and advanced to the Gold Bracket of the tournament.  Their opponent in the first round of the Gold Bracket was USF.  The first match of the series was Men’s Doubles, and the Hatters sent out the pair of Dan Lozada and Logan Reid.  The match went to tiebreak; however, the Hatters fell 5-6.  The next match was Women’s Doubles where Kali Ballard and Taylor Day we beaten by the Bulls 2-6. The first Singles match of the series was close with Nick Edwards getting edged out 4-6. The Women’s Single match featured Kali Ballard, and after playing her heart out dropped the match 1-6.  The final match of the series was the Mixed Doubles, with the team of Erin Davis and Dan Lozada dropping a heartbreaker 0-6 to end the Hatters’ run at the tournament.  The Stetson Tennis Club returned home confident and anxious for their next tournament at University of Central Florida. According to Erin Davis, “we are proud of how far we got in the tournament.” The UCF tournament is November 10^th.