Feb. 21, 2006

Women's Results l Men's Results l SunTrust River City Rumble standings 

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Despite being shorthanded due to injuries, the University of North Florida women's tennis team took care of business against cross-town rival Jacksonville University on Tuesday afternoon - posting a 5-2 win over the Dolphins in the inaugural SunTrust River City Rumble meeting between the squads at the UNF Tennis Complex.

The Lady Ospreys - playing without injured No. 1 singles player Katja Brandt (back) for the third consecutive match as well as No. 3 Catalina Castillo (elbow) - took control with the doubles point out of the gate and got strong play at the bottom of the lineup to win their second straight match.

Florencia Torres earned a surprise win at the No. 2 singles position, upending JU's Lena Willi, 6-0, 6-3. UNF's Robin Rogers (No. 4), Carolina Melo (No. 5) and Bojana Ducanovic (No. 6) also earned singles wins for the Lady Ospreys.

"The girls did a good job and really came to play," UNF head coach Igal Buberman said. "I was pleased with Florencia. She is really picking up her level of play. We were a little short-handed because of the injuries, but the team really played well as a whole."

In doubles, UNF (4-4, 1-1 A-Sun) took the bottom two positions with relative ease, getting an 8-2 victory from the team of Vanessa Sanchez and Rogers at the No. 2 position and an 8-0 win from Melo and Ducanovic at the No. 3 spot.

The tandem of Emese Sulyos and Nanar Airapetian won the No. 1 doubles match for JU (1-4, 0-2 A- Sun), defeating UNF's Cockbill and Torres, 8-0.

The Lady Ospreys' victory - when coupled with the UNF men's team's 7-0 win over the Dolphins on Tuesday - pushed UNF into a 7-6 lead in the battle for the SunTrust Old Wooden Barrel, which will be awarded the school with the most head-to-head victories at the end of the 2005-06 school year. The schools will meet seven more times in four sports over the next two months to decide the winner.

UNF returns to action on Thursday when it travels to 43rd-ranked South Florida, and then continue their south Florida swing with matches against St. John's in Tampa on Friday, at Florida Atlantic on Saturday and at third-ranked Barry (Division II) on Sunday.