MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (April 24, 2016) – The No. 44-ranked FIU women's tennis team (17-3) lost to the No. 45-ranked Rice Owls (13-9), 4-1, in the championship match of the 2016 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championships on Sunday morning in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
The Panthers fell behind 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. The duo of senior
Carlotta Orlando and redshirt freshman
Andrea Lazaro defeated Lindsey Hodge and Alison Ho, 6-3, after freshman
Maryna Veksler and junior
Nina Nagode lost to Emily Smith and Katherine Ip, 6-2. However, Rice clinched doubles as Savannah Durkin and Solomiya Zinko topped sophomore
Nerma Caluk and senior
Kaitlin Brozovich, 6-3.
The Owls extended their lead to 3-0, as Orlando fell to Durkin, 6-3, 6-1, and Ho defeated Caluk, 6-1, 6-4, in singles action. FIU got on the board when Veklser defeated Hodge, 6-3, 6-2, to make the score 3-1. However, Lazaro suffered her first individual loss of the spring, falling to Smith, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to end the match.
The loss snapped a six-match winning streak for the Panthers, who lost for just the third time all season.
Selections for the 2016 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships will be announced via NCAA.com on Wednesday, May 4, at 6 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/.
