Panthers show off talent at ITA tournament

After a great showing in the Milwaukee Classic, four Panthers got a chance to measure themselves against elite competition.

Freshmen Tina Mohorcic and Nina Nagode, sophomore Carlotta Orlando and senior Giulietta Boha made the trip to Athens, Ga. on Oct. 19-20 to compete in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Regional Tournament.

While the two freshmen and Orlando got their first taste of ITA Tournament action, Boha has played in the ITA previously and for this trip Boha was star for FIU in Athens, Ga. The senior, who went 4-1 in the Milwaukee Classic back on Sept. 13-15 finished last weekend winning all of her singles matches giving her a 3-0 singles record for the weekend.

Boha initially began the tournament playing with a chip on her shoulder for being placed in the “Singles B” bracket.

“At first I was mad, because I wanted to play the best players in the “A” draw, but then it was ok and I told myself to just win all those matches and that’s what I did,” Boha said.

With the motivation, Boha first defeated Mercer’s Haley Powell in straight sets. Boha advanced to the finals round after defeating Stephanie Woods from Georgia Southern, and Mercer’s Natalie Franklin after.

When reaching the final round, Boha did not play as the match was canceled due to time constraints and travel reasons.

“We had class Monday, so they said no; of course I was disappointed because I wanted to play the last match since I played well but its ok because I ended well, it’s not that I had a bad match and then I had to go back home,” Boha said.

For Nagode, she went 1-1 in her singles matches. Nagode won her first match before losing in straight sets to Florida’s Stefani Stojic.

“I knew the tournament was going to be strong, the first match wasn’t easy but she wasn’t that good so I played my game and I won, and the second one I felt she just had more discipline,” Nagode said.

Orlando finished her ITA outing with a split of 1-1 in singles over the weekend.

The other freshman Morhorcic lost in both singles matches to Clementina Riobueno from University of Miami and in the consolation bracket Linn Timmerman from Georgia Southern.

“It was my first match after April and after injury, and now I know what to work on,” Morhorcic said. “Mostly I have to work on my serve and return because I was out of tennis for a long time. Now I know what college tennis is about, and what kind of matches the whole team can expect.”

For the Panthers and Head Coach Katarina Petrovic who now have had a month of practice and conditioning feel encouraged from the ITA results especially after competing against top 10 caliber schools. The Panthers feel confident in their ability to compete against top tier competition moving forward.

“It’s good to see we are on the same level as they are,” Nagode said.

“For sure we are going to play in January against some of the same level of teams, so I think it’s good to see that we can compete and we saw that we are there, we just have to work on our doubles,” Orlando said. “We are improving a lot, and working hard and if now we are there, I can only be positive that when January comes we will be better, especially in the conditioning because right now they are more in shape than us but if work these next two months we will be on the same level.”

While the Panthers competed well in singles, they were unable to notch a doubles victory losing both doubles matches in the first round. The duo of Nagode and Mohorcic lost 8-4, while Orlando and Boha lost in a tightly contested match 8-6.

“Everybody has to be on the same page when it comes to pairing teams and this was the second match together for Nina and Tina, and the team they played had 24 matches together so it was very tough for them,” Petrovic said.

The importance of doubles has been stressed by Petrovic and along with conditioning that will be something Petrovic will continue to stress in practice as the Panthers prepare to host the FIU Invitational on Nov. 1-3.