MIAMI (Feb. 25, 2016) – Following four-straight victories away from the FIU Tennis Courts, the FIU women's tennis team (5-1) returns home to host Eastern Michigan and UT Arlington this weekend.
The Panthers will host the EMU Eagles on Friday, Feb. 26. First serve is set for 1:00 p.m. Two days later, FIU will welcome the UT Arlington Mavericks on Sunday at noon.
Friday will mark the fifth meeting all-time between FIU and Eastern Michigan with the Panthers winning the four previous outings. The last time the Panthers and Eagles squared off, FIU defeated EMU, 7-0, on Feb. 28, 2011 in Miami, Fla.
Sunday's match with UT Arlington will mark the first meeting between the two schools.
FIU enters the weekend ranked No. 62 in the latest Oracle/ITA Division I Women's Collegiate Tennis Rankings. With the 5-1 mark, FIU is off to its best start since the 2001 season. That year, the Panthers finished 23-3 with a final ITA ranking of No. 24.
The Panthers are led by freshman
Maryna Veksler, who comes into Friday's match with a 20-4 mark in singles play. The native of Kiev, Ukraine, has won seven-straight and is a perfect 5-0 at the No. 1 position in dual matches this season. Redshirt freshman
Andrea Lazaro has also won seven-straight, including six-consecutive in dual matches this spring.
Admission to all FIU matches is free to the public.
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/.
