Panthers lose in C-USA finals
The Panthers (17-3) lost to No. 45 Rice University in the championship match of the C-USA tournament, 4-1, on Sunday, April 24.
The Panthers (17-3) lost to No. 45 Rice University in the championship match of the C-USA tournament, 4-1, on Sunday, April 24.
Saturday’s win over the Knights improved the Panthers’ away record to a perfect 8-0. The Panthers improved to 4-2 when losing the doubles point and remain undefeated when winning the first point.
Orlando finished off the match with a comeback win in the final set over Stearns. The senior came back from a one-set deficit and won in a tiebreaker, 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3), giving the Panthers a 5-2 win over the Bears.
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“Breaking the school record doesn’t feel like anything,” said head coach Katarina Petrovic after the match against the Miners. “I’ve been waiting for this to happen since last year. This is the best team I’ve ever coached and we have the right people around this team to make it as successful as we’ve been this season.”
“We came out aggressive and with high energy in our matches this weekend,” said Head Coach Katarina Petrovic after the team’s 4-1 win over the Mavericks.
With the sweep over the weekend, the Panthers are off to their best start since the 2001 season. In that season, the Panthers finished 23-3 with a final ITA ranking of No. 24
The Panthers (3-1) dominated throughout the weekend, sweeping both opponents, 7-0, and did not lose a match.
“We saw that doubles are the most important point of the match,” said Nagode. “We came out tired at first, but we picked up the aggressiveness at the end. Next time, we need to be more aggressive in doubles. Tough loss.”
The Eagles needed to win four singles matches in a row to upset FIU. However, sophomore Nerma Caluk of FIU was not going to allow the Eagles to get back into the match.