MIAMI (Jan. 14, 2016) – The FIU women's tennis team returns to action this weekend as it travels to Orlando, Fla., to take part in the UCF Quad Tournament Jan. 16-18.
The four-team tournament will feature FIU, UCF, North Texas and Rice. Action will begin from the UCF Tennis Complex on Friday, Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. ET.
The Panthers will face UCF in doubles and Rice in singles action on Friday. The action will continue on Saturday with FIU taking on North Texas in doubles play and UCF in singles. On the final day of the tournament, the Panthers will square off against Rice in doubles and North Texas in singles action.
The Panthers are coming off solid Fall, posting a 54-29 mark in singles play. Leading the way for FIU is sophomore
Nerma Caluk, who registered a 10-2 record this fall. Currently ranked No. 69 in the ITA Oracle College Tennis rankings, Caluk claimed the Bedford Cup Singles B title, winning in straight-sets in four of her five matches, including a 6-4, 6-0 win over USF's Nicole Dzenga in the Singles B finals.
Freshman
Maryna Veksler, the Conference USA Player of the Month (October), notched a team best 13 wins this past fall. Veksler finished the month of October with a 10-2 record in singles action. The native of Kiev, Ukraine, ended the month, winning eight-straight, including five to win the ITA Southeast Regional Consolation Bracket in Athens, Ga. During the month, Veksler also earned a pair of victories over ranked opponents, defeating Miami's Clementina Rubio (No. 63) in straight-sets, 6-4, 6-2, and downing Georgia's Mariana Gould (No. 88), 6-3, 4-6, 10-8. She went 3-0 in the team's final tournament of the fall season as FIU dominated the opposition, winning 19-of-20 singles events. Veksler won in straight-sets in six of her 10 victories this month.
Returning four letterwinners from a team that went 13-8, FIU enters its third season in C-USA action this Spring. Three all-conference honorees (Caluk, senior
Carlotta Orlando and junior
Nina Nagode) lead an FIU squad which has improved its win total in each of the last two seasons under third-year Head Coach
Katarina Petrovic. As the No. 5 seed in the C-USA Tennis Championships, the Panthers advanced to the semifinals, defeating Southern Miss (4-0) and Middle Tennessee (4-3) before falling to the No. 30-ranked Rice Owls. It was FIU's best performance in a conference tournament since reaching the Sun Belt Championship match in 2012. Six Panthers earned C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll (GPA of 3.0 or better), including
Yana Koroleva and Caluk, who received C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medals (GPA of 3.75 or better).
Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUWTennis) for all the latest FIU women's tennis news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (
Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).
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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium. About FIU:
Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offer more than 180 bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes $8.9 billion each year to the local economy. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission. FIU has awarded over 200,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and has over 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
