MIAMI (March 15, 2016) – For the first time in over a month, the FIU women's tennis team suffered a loss, falling to the No. 41-ranked Columbia Lions (9-4), 4-3, on Tuesday afternoon from the FIU Tennis Courts.
Snapping a 10-match winning streak, the Panthers fell to 11-2 on the year and 4-2 at home.
The Lions took an early 1-0 lead, winning the doubles point. After freshman
Maryna Veksler and junior
Nina Nagode defeated the No. 59-ranked tandem of Rima Asatrian and Alexandra Solovyev, 6-3, Columbia's Andrea Kevakian and Star Makarome downed sophomore
Nerma Caluk and senior
Kaitlin Brozovich, 6-2, to draw even in doubles. The Lions claimed the point after senior
Carlotta Orlando and redshirt freshman
Andrea Lazaro fell to Kanika Vaidya and Adi Milstein, 7-5.
FIU responded with three-straight wins in singles play to take a 3-1 lead. Lazaro picked up her 13
th-straight win with a 6-2, 6-1, win over Solovyev. Brozovich improved to 14-8 on the year with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Vivian Cheng. Nagode gave the Panther's a two-point lead defeating Asatrian, 6-2, 6-3.
Columbia cut the Panther advantage to 3-2 as Vaidya (No. 52) topped Veksler, 6-2, 6-4, and tied the match as Kevakian defeated Caluk, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. With one result left (No. 3 spot), Orlando fell to Makarome, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to end the match.
The Panthers will next host the Yale Bulldogs on Thursday, March 17. First serve is set for 12:00 p.m.
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/.
