Fort Myers, Fla. - An early 3-0 lead slipped away for the Stetson women's tennis team (11-6, 4-3 Atlantic Sun) in a 4-3 loss at A-Sun rival FGCU (7-9, 4-3 A-Sun) Saturday morning at the FGCU Tennis Complex. The loss is Stetson's fourth in a row and first to FGCU in program history.

The Hatters won the doubles point in relatively quick fashion. Junior Sara Lazarevic (Calgary, Alta.) and sophomore MayaBlue Stauffer-MacDowell (Asheville, N.C.) beat Jen Evans and Gyanna Mandic 8-1 at the top of the lineup. Sophomore Diana Bukajeva (Riga, Latvia) and junior Jen Miller (Tampa, Fla.) followed with an 8-3 win on Court 3 over Bettina Botha and Sara Means.

Stetson led 3-0 in singles after Bukajeva shut out Marina Diez 6-0, 6-0 on Court 4 and senior Shannon Gunning (Boca Raton, Fla.)  defeated Evans 6-2, 6-2 on Court 2. The Hatters would never get that key fourth point to win the match, however, as the Eagles won the last four singles matches to rally back for the victory.

The Hatters conclude the regular season next weekend in Nashville, Tenn., playing Friday at Belmont and Saturday at Lipscomb.

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