Seventh-ranked Francis Marion will face top-ranked and unbeaten BYU-Hawaii in the round of Sweet Sixteen at the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis National Championships today in Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Sophomore Jitka Gavdunova rallied from a set down to win the deciding singles match at No.3 and give seventh-ranked Francis Marion University a 5-4 win over eighth-ranked Columbus State University, Saturday afternoon (May 9) in the championship match of the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Southeast Regional in Florence, S.C.

The Francis Marion University men’s tennis team could not overcome a 2-1 deficit after doubles play and the 25th-ranked Patriots saw their season come to an end with a 5-1 loss to fifth-ranked USC Aiken, Friday afternoon (May 8) in the semifinals of the NCAA Division II Men’s Tennis Southeast Regional in Savannah.

Seventh-ranked Francis Marion University lost only four games in sweeping the three doubles matches and the Patriots went on to a 5-0 win over 36th-ranked Erskine College, Friday morning (May 8) in a semifinal match at the NCAA Division II Women’s Tennis Southeast Regional in Florence, S.C.

The Francis Marion men’s and women’s tennis teams learned on Thursday that they both have earned invitations to participate in the NCAA Division II tournament, with the Patriot women set to serve as a regional tournament host for the second straight year.

Five Francis Marion University tennis players were named to the Peach Belt Conference 2009 All-Conference Teams.  The announcements were made at the recent PBC Championship Tournaments in Morrow, Ga.

The Coker College baseball game against Francis Marion and the Coker tennis matches scheduled for Tuesday were cancelled due to inclement weather.

The Red Foxes’ boys’ tennis team improved its season record to 6-3 after a 5-1 victory over Wilson Tuesday afternoon at Byerly Park.

The Coker Women’s Tennis team dropped their first match in the last four matches losing 7-2 to Mount Olive College in Conference Carolinas women’s tennis on Sunday afternoon.

Carolina Forest edged the Red Foxes Wednesday afternoon at Byerly Park in varsity boys’ tennis action by a score of 4-3.

Alex Howle won his singles match 6-1, 6-0 as Darlington swept all seven matches from Manning.

The fifth-ranked Francis Marion men’s tennis team took all three doubles matches in a 7-2 non-conference win over Lincoln Memorial University.

FMU senior right-hander David Walters has been named the Peach Belt Conference’s pitcher of the week for the week of Feb. 23-March 2, while junior Tereza Sykorova has been selected as the women’s tennis player of the week for the same period of time.

Senior right fielder Zach Boyette laid down a perfect one-out squeeze bunt in the bottom of the ninth inning Tuesday afternoon to lift the Barton College baseball team to a 4-3 win over nationally 29th-ranked Francis Marion.

The fifth-ranked Francis Marion University men’s tennis team took a 3-0 lead after doubles play and cruised to an 8-1 non-conference win over Pfeiffer University on Friday in the Patriots’ home opener.