SCF tennis stars Maria Medina and Iulia Sergheeva shed culture shock in pushing Manatees to nationals
BRADENTON -- Maria Medina arrived in Bradenton with a big tennis game and a huge culture shock.
Medina, though, had a team around her. That included doubles partner Iulia Sergheeva, who went through a similar situation.
"I understand her a lot and how she feels," Sergheeva said. "That's what I'm always trying to support her and trying to guide her whenever she needs my help. I'm always willing to help."
Medina and Sergheeva have come into their own, though, with the State College of Florida women's tennis team. The duo led the Manatees to the National Junior College Athletic Association national tennis championship held in Tyler, Texas, beginning Sunday.
Medina secured an individual state championship last month when she handed ASA Miami's Macarena Olivares her first junior college tennis defeat in two years. Olivares entered the state tournament as the top-ranked JUCO play
er in the country, with three national titles -- two in the fall and one in the spring -- to her credit.
Yet, Medina heeded SCF head coach Clayton Taylor and assistant coach Sam Johnston's game plan of staying in the points as long as possible to force Olivares to get out of her comfort zone.
"From the very start of the match we told Maria that if she could run a lot of balls down, make this girl play a lot of balls (then) she could get into this girl's head," Taylor said.
It worked, and Medina pulled off the 7-5, 7-5 upset victory.
That also made Medina the top-ranked player in the country moving into this week's national tournament. Medina lost to Olivares earlier in the season, but now she has a lofty national ranking to add to the pressure of competing at nationals this weekend.
"I think that now I am just going to relax and do my best, because that's the best way to deal with the situation," Medina said. "Just putting pressure on yourself makes it worse. You play tight. I have to be natural."
Medina also partnered with Sergheeva to upset Olivares and Megane Blanco in the doubles state championship final.
The chemistry between Medina and Sergheeva is rooted in their tennis games, but it's also ingrained in their paths to SCF. Both players arrived to Bradenton from other countries, experiencing a culture shock and a language barrier.
For Sergheeva, she came from Moldova at the age of 15 to attend IMG Academy. After spending multiple years in West Bradenton before attending SCF, Sergheeva's transition period to the United States was an experience she could help Medina with.
Sergheeva also worked her way back from an injury that required partial knee replacement in her left knee and more than two years to return from.
For Medina, her arrival at SCF came with a shock over life in the United States. Medina said people are more focused on their tasks and quiet compared to life in her native Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Taylor never saw Medina's game in person before he recruited her to play for the Manatees. A former pupil of Taylor's, Harold Castillo, coached Medina in Venezuela. Castillo reached out to Taylor and recommended the Cumana, Venezuela native for Taylor's SCF club.
It wasn't that simple, though, for Medina to pack up and join the Manatees. Spending her final year of high school in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, Medina needed to study and pass both the SAT and TOEFL (for English) exams.
She did, and it's why she's joined Sergheeva in leading SCF to a state title at the expense of two-time defending national champion ASA Miami.
Casey O'Toole, Amiena Houston, Maria Zubkova and Catherine Murphy round out the Manatees, who begin the national tournament in Texas on Sunday.
Jason Dill, sports reporter, can be reached at 745-7017. Follow him on Twitter @Jason__Dill and like his Facebook Page at Jason Dill Bradenton Herald.
This story was originally published May 7, 2016 at 12:00 AM with the headline "SCF tennis stars Maria Medina and Iulia Sergheeva shed culture shock in pushing Manatees to nationals ."