Pictured: Freshman Aleksandra Trifunovic (Photo Credit: Roy Viera)
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NEW YORK (Feb. 3, 2013) – The FIU women's tennis team (0-3) fell to the Columbia Lions (1-2), 7-0, on Sunday afternoon at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.
Columbia, ranked No. 70 in this week's ITA national rankings, took an early 1-0 lead, winning all three doubles contests. Senior Rita Maisak and freshman Aleksandra Trifunovic lost to Columbia's Bianca Sanon and Kanika Vaidya, 8-1, while freshman Lotte Gras and senior Magali Holt lost to the duo of Tiana Takenaga and Lauren Stratman, 8-3, and sophomore Giulietta Boha and freshman Carlotta Orlando fell to Crystal Leung and Nicole Bartnik, 8-4.
FIU looked to respond in singles play, however, the Lions won all six matches to defeat the Panthers, 7-0. Gras lost to Katarina Kovacevic, 6-1, 6-2, Holt lost to Ioana Alecsiu, 6-0, 6-0, and Maisak fell to Bartnik (No. 24), 6-1, 6-2, to give the Lions a 3-0 lead.
Trifunovic, who was playing in the No. 3 position, took the first set of her match, 6-2. But, Leung won the second set, 6-3, as well as the third-set tiebreak, 10-3, clinching the victory for the Lions.
At the No. 2 position, Orlando suffered her first singles loss of the season, falling to Vaidya (No. 85), 7-5, 7-5. Boha closed out the afternoon, battling Stratman to three sets. The native of Wuerzburg, Germany, won the first set, 7-6 (5). Stratman took set two, 6-2, and won the third-set tiebreak, 10-5, to end the match.
The Panthers will next travel to Mobile, Ala., to take on the South Alabama Jaguars on Friday, Feb. 15. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m. ET.
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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 U.S. Century Bank Arena and Alfonso Field at FIU Stadium.
About FIU: Florida International University is recognized as a Carnegie engaged university. Its colleges and schools offer more than 180 bachelors, masters and doctoral programs in fields such as engineering, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU is worlds ahead in its local and global engagement, finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission and enrolls 50,000 students in two campuses and three centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell and the Miami Beach Urban Studios. More than 140,000 alumni live and work in South Florida. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
