CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sophomore Hima Fernando has earned the No. 1 seed in the women's singles draw and senior Daniel Borisov the No. 2 seed in men's singles to lead Longwood in the 2026 Big South Individual Women's and Men's Tennis Championships, presented by Visit York County, at the Rock Hill Tennis Center in South Carolina, starting Friday.
Fernando heads a group of three Lancers in the women's singles field, which also includes fifth-seeded senior Feline van Eijkelenburg and 10th-seeded sophomore Farah Asaad.
Borisov is part of a men's singles draw that also features 11th-seeded sophomore Rodrigo Guijarro and his 13th-seeded classmate, Marc Ferrando.
The women's doubles draw has van Eijkelenburg and junior Alexandra Magia seeded seventh, while Borisov and junior Marko Mrdak and fifth overall and Ferrando and Guijarro are seeded sixth.
Seeding for the 16-player singles draws and eight-team doubles draws was largely determined by the World Tennis Number of student-athletes. Slight adjustments were made to ensure student-athletes from the same institution would not meet each other in the first or second round of the singles tournament. In the case there was a tie in WTN, the Universal Tennis Ranking was utilized.
Fernando, the Big South Freshman of the Year in 2026 and an all-conference second team selection in singles, is 7-1 overall in the discipline this season in three fall events, while van Eijkelenburg is 5-3 and Asaad is 3-2.
Borisov, who was named to the All-Big South first team in doubles and second team in singles last spring, is 6-2 in singles this fall over four tournaments. Guijarro is 10-1 in singles and Ferrando comes into the weekend 8-4 overall.
Named to the All-Big South second team in doubles in 2026, van Eijkelenburg and Magia are 5-3 together this season. On the men's side, Borisov and Mrdak — an All-Big South first-team doubles selection in 2025 — are 0-1 as a pair this season while Ferrando and Guijarro are 8-3.
The Individual singles and doubles champions in each draw earn automatic qualification into the ITA Conference Masters Championships, held Nov. 5-8, 2026 at the Rome Tennis Center at Berry College, the site of the Longwood men's tennis team's UTR Sports NIT Championship appearance in May.
Now in tournament's third season, the Lancers, led by third-year Longwood Director of Tennis Charlotte Clarke, will be shooting for more success in the Big South Individual Men's and Women's Championships. Timéo Puech won the men's singles title in 2025 to advance to the ITA Conference Masters Championships in San Diego.
Action runs through Sunday, getting underway at 11 a.m., on Friday with the doubles main draw for both genders.
