DENTON, Texas (April 22, 2017) – For the second-consecutive year, the FIU women's tennis team has advanced to the Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship match following a 4-0 victory over WKU in the tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon.
FIU (21-1) shut out the Hilltoppers for the team's school-record 19
th-straight win. The victory also marked the squad's 15
th shutout of the season. Ranked No. 41 in the latest Oracle/ITA Women's Tennis National Rankings, the Panthers improved to 2-0 all-time versus WKU with Saturday's win.
FIU jumped out to a 1-0 lead after winning the doubles point. The pair of
Andrea Lazaro and
Nina Nagode defeated Lisa Friess and Andreanna Christopoulou, 6-1, followed by a 6-1 win by the duo of
Mina Markovic and
Gabriela Ferreira over Viletta Shatalova and Monica Malinen.
In singles action, the Panthers extended their lead to 2-0 as Ferreira won her 13
th-straight with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Shatalova. The win improved the native of Asuncion, Paraguay, to 12-0 in dual matches this spring. Markovic made it 3-0 in favor of FIU with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Christopoulou. The win improved the native of Belgrade, Serbia, to 18-4 on the year. For the second-straight day,
Ulyana Grib clinched the match for the Panthers, this time defeating Natalia De Ugarte, 6-2, 6-4. The win was Girb's team-best 24
th of the year, extending her current winning streak to 11 matches.
With the win, FIU improves to 6-3 all-time in the C-USA Women's Tennis Championships.
The Panthers will face top-seeded Rice in the championship match on Sunday, April 23. The match can be seen on C-USA.tv with first service set for 11:00 a.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 Riccardo Silva Stadium.
About FIU:
Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. 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 with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute. FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.
