MIAMI — FIU's 27th-ranked women's tennis program cruised to a shutout victory over UTEP in the quarterfinal round of the Conference USA (CUSA) Championships on Friday afternoon. 

The Panthers, who are hosting the CUSA Tournament at their home facilities, swept UTEP 4-0 to begin their title defense. FIU has now won 16 straight matches and moves to 2-0 at its brand new facility, the Sergio Lemme PayCargo Tennis Center. 

FIU won 6-0 at the top two doubles slots to earn the first point of the match. In singles, the Panthers garnered victories from spots two through four to clinch the match. 

Oyinlomo Quadre and Katerina Mandelikova, the nation's 53rd-ranked doubles pair, produced the first 6-0 win in doubles for FIU. Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Salma Loudili followed that with an equal 6-0 win to conclude the doubles competition in less than 25 minutes. 

In singles, Mandelikova set the tone at No. 4 singles with a 6-1, 6-0 win to put FIU up 2-0. Quadre, ranked 53rd in singles, won 6-3, 6-1 at the second spot to give the Panthers a 3-0 lead. 

Valery Gynina clinched the match for FIU with a 6-0, 6-1 win at No. 3. 

UP NEXT

The top-seeded Panthers take on fourth-seeded Louisiana Tech in the CUSA Semifinals tomorrow, Saturday, April 20 at 11 a.m. ET.