MIAMI, FLA. (Oct. 23, 2017)– The FIU women's tennis doubles team of
Maryna Veksler and
Ulyana Grib won the 2017 ITA Regional Championships on Monday morning, in Athens, Georgia.
Veksler and Grib, won 8-5 in the final against Georgia Tech's Paige Hourigon and Kenya Jones, seeded No.1 in the draw. It is the first time in the FIU Tennis history that the Panthers won the ITA Regional Championship title.
"We managed to handle the pressure and we found our way to be tough on the deciding points" mentioned Grib after the final. "Also, I think that the key of this tournament's win was that we were able to apply in matches what we worked on during practice."
Throughout the tournament, the two young Panthers defeated other three seeded doubles pairs: in the second round they won against Miami's Ana Madur and Perez Estela (seeded No.6), in the quarterfinal they beat Brooke Austin and Katie Kubicz (seeded No.3) and in the semifinal they won against fifth-seeded Georgia Tech's Ida Jariskog and Johnise Renauld.
"Our tennis wasn't perfect and the first match was the toughest we played in the draw" said Veskler. "We both improved towards the end and in the semifinal realized we could win the championship".
With this win, Veskler and Grib will be participating in the Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which is held from Wednesday, November 1 to Sunday, November 5, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Only the nation's top-32 doubles women's teams can compete in this prestigious tournament, along with the best 64 singles women players in the country, including another Panther,
Andrea Lazaro.
"For future matches and tournaments we will keep working on the same things in order to make our game plan more automatic and to be more confident on the courts" added Grib.
Next up for the FIU tennis team is the FIU Invitational Tournament, from Friday, October 27 to Sunday, October 29 in Key Biscayne.
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