Panthers show dominance in 4-0 victory over Iowa

Steven Melendez // Contributing Writer

The No. 24-ranked FIU women’s tennis team (14-1) won its 12th straight match with a 4-0 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes (11-3), Saturday morning at the FIU Tennis Courts.

This victory improves the Panthers to 9-0 at home. This win also marks as the fourth straight shutout for the Panthers as well as ninth overall this season.

The Panthers started strong by winning the doubles portion of the competition. Ulyana Grib and Maryna Veksler defeated Montana Crawford and Adorabol Huckleby 6-2, making it their 5th straight doubles win.  Mina Markovic and Gabriela Ferreira defeated Aimee Tarun and Natalie Looney 6-4.

“If you see that your partner is pumped up, it brings you up too and that’s our main goal, so for every double we try to keep our energy,” said Senior Nina Nagode, who performed well during her doubles and singles match but ended unfinished.

With the Panthers holding a 1-0 advantage heading into the singles portion of the competition, they grabbed the three points needed to secure the victory.  It started with Maryna Veksler earning her team-high 18th singles victory of the season, defeating Douglas 6-1, 6-0. Gabriela Ferreira and Ulyana Grib continued the strong play for the Panthers, with Ferreira defeating Crawford 6-3, 6-0 and Grib defeating Tarun 6-2, 6-2.

After her team’s strong performance head coach Katarina Petrovic talked about the keys to the victory.

“Energy and heart,” she said. “I think we were prepared in our last two days in practice and we made a game plan.”

For the Panthers’ next game, they will be hosting Towson on Monday, March 20. First serve is set for 1 p.m.

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