LOS ANGELES (Jan. 24, 2019) – The FIU women's tennis team will travel cross-country to participate in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend hosted at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on UCLA's campus.
 
The ITA Kick-Off cracks open the start of the spring season for the Panther squad, who are heading into the weekend seeded second with an ITA Ranking at No. 41.
 
With action slated to begin Saturday, Jan. 26. The Panthers will face Loyola Marymount, at 12 p.m. ET, for the opening round contest on day one. The Bruins will square off against Minnesota at 3 P.M. ET following the completion of the FIU-LMU match. 
 
The winners of the matches will compete at 4 p.m. ET, following the consolation match up at 12 p.m. The champion of the single-elimination event will advance to next month's ITA Div. I National Team Indoor Championships.
 
PANTHERS ROAR LOUDER
LMU enters the weekend as the No. 3 seed with an ITA ranking of 55. The Panthers are undefeated against the Tigers, leading the series 2-0 in all-time match ups. 
 
2017-18 IN REVIEW
The 2017-18 season was the year of many firsts, including the C-USA title program history after defeating Rice, 4-3. The Panthers won 17 matched and finished ranked No. 41 in the ITA rankings, the highest final ITA ranking since 2009, and have now ranked in the top 50 and earned at least 17 wins in back-to-back seasons. FIU did not lose in any home matches during the season and swept all six C-USA opponents tallying a winning percentage of .850. The Panthers earned their first NCAA berth since 2011 and just 9^th  in program history, three Panthers were selected to compete in the NCAA Individual Championships.
 
WHAT'S NEW?
The Panthers welcome a talented crop of freshmen, Basak Akbas (Istanbul, Turkey) Paulina Bakaite (Vilnius, Lithuania), Mariia Solynshkina (Kemerovo, Russia) and Kamila Umarova (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) each bring an ITF ranking in singles play to FIU, with signs of being up-and-comers on the roster.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Panthers competed at the pre-season FIU invitational Jan. 11-12, where they hosted Iowa State and Wisconsin in a two-day match play tournament and posted a 7-12 mark on the weekend.
 
Weekend Schedule
**All times local**

Saturday, Jan. 26
12 p.m. FIU vs. LMU
3 p.m. UCLA vs. Minnesota
 
Sunday, Jan. 27
12 p.m. Consolation round
4 p.m. Championship
 
 SOCIAL MEDIA 
Get all the latest information on the team by following @FIUwomenstennis on Instagram and @FIUWTennis on Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at @FIUSports on Facebook and @FIUAthletics on Twitter and Instagram.