LAKELAND, Fla. (Oct. 13, 2025) — Florida National men's and women's tennis took a short trip to Lakeland, Fla., for the YTF Southeastern University Invitational, playing matches against athletes from Saint Leo University, Flagler College, New College of Florida and Florida Southern College. Sophomore
Lukas Nico Kopitzki made it to the quarterfinal of the men's open draw and
Julia Chodkowska advanced to the round of 16 on the women's side.
On the men's side of the action, Kopitzki defeated Timothy Barrow of Saint Leo University 6-0, 6-2 and bested SCAD Savannah's Patricio Medrano 7-5, 7-6 [7-5] in a close match to advance to the quarterfinal of the draw. He ultimately missed the semifinals, losing to Wiley Simpson 6-1, 6-4.
Finn Collins had a competitive match against Florida Southern's Reese Hilsen and ended up winning 7-6, 4-6, 10-6. Jacob Stahlgren Schmidt of Florida Southern ended Collins' run, defeating the FNU newcomer 6-1, 6-0.
Daniele Trentin saw an early exit to his tournament stay, losing 7-5 in straight sets to NCF's Leal Hogan-Grant.
Daniel Richard Garmendia Turner,
Mick Leyers,
Anis Kerfah and
Dex Leyers also fell short of a win in the round of 32.
In doubles play, FNU did not win any of their matches despite partners Garmendia Turner and Collins falling 8-6 to Florida Southern's Bosko Boskovic and Gabriel Jornert. Trentin and
Alejandro Suarez lost by the same score to the Mocs pair of Simpson and Marco Cinotti.
The FNU women were led in singles play by Chodkowska and
Celeste Deniz Reyes. Chodkowska battled Saint Petersburg College's Daniela Vivas Valencia for an impressive win Friday before ending her run against Flagler College's Eryka Kruk 6-1, 6-0 in the afternoon. Notably, the University of Tampa's Nicole Casas bested Deniz Reyes 6-3, 6-2.
Chodkowska and
Chiara Fiorenza paired up on the doubles court for an 8-0 loss versus Flagler College's Leah Waechter and Ornella Lomenzo.
Up Next: FNU returns to the tennis courts of Goodlet Park in 2026 with a Sun Conference match against Ave Maria on Feb. 25.
