University of North Florida
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UTEP
Lone Star Sweep:
Win over UTEP caps trip
1/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2007
EL PASO, Texas - The University of North Florida women's tennis team capped an impressive weekend of play in the Lone Star State with a 4-3 win over Texas-El Paso on Sunday.
The Lady Ospreys improved to 4-0 this season after capturing wins over Lamar on Friday, Texas-Pan American on Saturday and finally the Lady Miners (1- 2). Sunday's match was by far the most challenging of the three, coming after UNF captured wins at the top two doubles positions and bottom three singles spots.
Senior captain Florencia Torres clinched the win for UNF with her victory at No. 4 singles, 6-3, 7-5 over UTEP's Katherine Palider.
"I am very pleased with the team," UNF head coach Igal Buberman said. "Our hard work and commitment paid off, and we are going back home undefeated. The girls did a great job and so did (assistant coach Rodrigo Puebla)."
UNF battled with the Miners for the hard-fought doubles point, getting wins from Natalia Sanchez and Catalina Castillo at the No. 1 position and Ina Durcakova and Florencia Torres at the No. 2 spot - both by 8-5 scores.
In singles play, UNF got out of the gates quickly - with Durcakova taking a 6-2, 6-0 win over Megan Pritchard at the No. 5 position, and Rogers rallying for an 0-6, 6-1, 7-5 win at No.6 singles over UTEP's Vicky Michaud.
That set up Torres, who won shortly thereafter to give the Lady Ospreys the team victory. UTEP's wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles came after the match had been decided.
Torres said the weekend was an important building block for the UNF squad.
"We accomplished our goal," Torres said. "We are going back home undefeated and playing good tennis. During the weekend we played hard, fought a lot and always supported each other. We have a tough season ahead of us, but if we stay focused and play as a team we can have great results."
Puebla, who works primarily with the women's squad, agreed with Torres' assessment and was impressed with weekend's results.
"I believe we made big progress coming together on and off the court," Puebla said. "We started to believe in each other. With the days and matches passing by, things started to click and we finished this road trip in excellent form. I am very proud of the team, and I believe we have a great season ahead of us."
The Lady Ospreys dive into conference play on Thursday when they travel across town to face Jacksonville University in a SunTrust River City Rumble matchup. Match time is set for 2 p.m.
