Trio of women's tennis players make semifinals

Rain halted play before the end of play on Day 3 at the NJCAA Division I National Tournament in Tyler, Texas.

Before rain was halted, Eastern Florida State College had three singles players reach the semifinals of the national tournament for the first time in program history.

Maria Gento is in the semifinals of the national tournament for the second straight season, defeating Hinds Community College's Camila Mordiz at No. 3 singles 6-2, 6-1 in the quarterfinals. The sophomore will play No. 2 seed Cynthia Wanjala of Cowley College.

Elena Martinez Prado has advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Mississippi Gulf Coast's Valeria Callejo. The sophomore will play for a spot in the national tournament final on Tuesday morning against No. 1 seed Amelia Devlin of Tyler Junior College.

Sara Valentina Ladino also punched her ticket to the semifinals, defeating Tyler Junior College's Sylvie Peart 7-6, 6-4. Ladino becomes the first Titan to reach the semifinals at No. 5 singles. She will play Hillsborough Community College's Younsoo Cho who is the No. 1 seed on Tuesday.

The No. 3 doubles team also advanced to the semifinals on Monday afternoon.

The team of Ladino and Yans came back after losing the first set 6-2 to Tyler Junior College's Natalia Garcia Matea and Sylvie Peart to win the next two sets 6-1 and 6-3.

They will play the No. 2 seed Naghely Garcia and Cynthia Wanjala from Cowley College when play resumes on Tuesday.

The No. 1 doubles duo of Gento and Prado lost in straight sets to the No. 2 seeded team, 6-1, 6-1 while the No. 2 doubles team of Thais Mitlmeier and Dasha Moskalenko won the first set 6-4 but lost the next two 6-3, 6-4. Both teams were eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Yans lost in the quarterfinals at No. 1 singles to St. Petersburg College's Rima Yoshida, 6-0, 6-1.

Dasha Moskalenko fell in the quarterfinals at No. 6 singles 6-1, 6-2 to Iowa Central's Patricia Sazambile.