DENTON, Texas – The 38
th-ranked and top-seeded FIU women's tennis team secured its spot in Saturday's C-USA Championship semifinals after dropping No. 8 seed UTSA, 4-0, on Friday afternoon at the Waranch Tennis Complex. FIU moves to 16-4 overall on the season while making its third straight C-USA semifinals appearance upon the victory.
In just its second all-time meeting, the Panthers made quick work of the Roadrunners in doubles to start the morning, as 75
th-ranked
Yasmine Kabbaj /
Oyinlomo Quadre and
Salma Loudili /
Katerina Mandelikova cruised to their 16
th and 14
th wins, respectively, to earn the point prior to FIU's singles rout.
Kabbaj and Quadre blanked UTSA's Weir and Gutierrez swiftly at No. 2 doubles, 6-0, to ring in the first win, while Loudili and Mandelikova followed with a 6-3 effort to clinch the point on a UTSA double fault to lead 1-0 heading into singles action.
UTSA competed hard on several courts, though, the Panthers nabbed first-set wins on four of the six prior to collecting the first three singles victories at No. 2, No. 3 and No. 1 singles.
Freshman
Ekaterina Khairutdinova bounced back into the win column, shaking off a two-match skid with a decisive 6-1, 6-1 effort over Weir at No. 2 singles prior to
Oyinlomo Quadre replicating the result on the No. 3 court for her 11
th straight win over Gutierrez, 6-1, 6-1.
Quadre, a two-time C-USA Freshman of the Week honoree from Lekki, Nigeria, now currently leads the Panthers in dual singles wins with a 13-2 mark on the season. Khairutdinova evens her record at the No. 2 position at 7-7 upon the win.
Up 3-0,
Yasmine Kabbaj,
Salma Loudili and
Kamila Umarova each fell in the first set of their respective matchups, though, all responding with second-set victories, while freshman
Katerina Mandelikova found herself in a second-set tiebreak at No. 5 singles against UTSA's Beybach up a set, 6-0, 6-6.
Amid Mandelikova's tiebreak, Kabbaj stormed back in her third set to drop UTSA's Zlatarova, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, at the top spot to seal the deal and clinch FIU's appearance in Saturday's semifinals, 4-0.
Additionally, the win marked the fifth in a row for Kabbaj, as she moves to 10-5 at the No. 1 position.
UP NEXT
The Panthers are slated to face No. 4 seed LA Tech in Saturday's semifinals (Apr. 22) at the Waranch Tennis Complex. First serve is slated for a 12 p.m. CT / 1 p.m. ET start.
SOCIAL MEDIA
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