GAINESVILLE, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2016) – Sophomore
Maryna Veksler won three-straight matches en route to a berth in the quarterfinals of this year's ITA Southeast Regional Championship, but fell to Georgia's Eleni Christofi, 6-1, 6-1, on Sunday from the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Florida.
The native of Kiev, Ukraine knocked off Georgia State's Daniela Ramirez (7-6 [4]. 6-3), Florida's Peggy Porter (6-2, 6-0) and Florida State's Nandini Das (6-4, 6-2) the previous two days to advances to Sunday's quarterfinals versus Christofi.
Veksler (one win on Friday and two on Saturday) led an FIU squad that earned 10 singles wins and five doubles victories during the championships.
Along with Veksler's two wins on Saturday, junior
Mina Markovic defeated the No. 27-ranked Kourtney Keegan (Florida), while sophomore
Andrea Lazaro defeated Miami's Estela Perez-Somarriba. Veksler was the only Panther to advance out of the round of 16 as both Markovic and Lazaro fell.
Also on Saturday, the duo of Veksler and freshman
Ulyana Grib made it to the quarterfinals of the doubles draw but lost to Florida's Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock (ranked No. 19 in the nation), 8-1.
The Panthers will next host the FIU Invitational Oct. 28-30 from the FIU Tennis Courts.
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/.
