Feb. 2, 2007
Complete Results
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Weather simply delayed the inevitable.
The University of North Florida women's tennis team stayed strong against cross-town rival Jacksonville University in their SunTrust River City Rumble match on Friday afternoon, with the Lady Ospreys cruising to a 5-2 win over the Dolphins at the UNF Tennis Complex in a match that was started Thursday but delayed 24 hours due to rain.
Play began at JU on Thursday afternoon but was halted with UNF leading 2-1. The match was restarted at UNF on Friday because of the availability of lights at the Lady Ospreys' facility.
Once play resumed, the UNF finished the job fairly quickly. Robin Rogers capped off No. 6 singles with a win over Maria Paiva-Flor (6-3, 6-1) and Catalina Castillo rallied from a one-set deficit to upend JU's Tatiana Soldatova at No. 3 singles (2-6, 7-6, 6-4). Castillo's win clinched the match victory for UNF (5- 0, 1-0 A-Sun), but the teams were required to play out the remaining singles matches and doubles competition, by conference rule.
Lena Willi posted a win at No. 2 singles for Jacksonville (1-2, 0-1 A-Sun) for their only point on Friday. The Dolphins' Emese Sulyos won her match at No. 1 singles on Thursday to account for the other tally.
UNF swept all three matches in doubles to grab that point as well.
"I think we came into match a little flat yesterday," UNF head coach Igal Buberman said. "We might have underestimated their team a little, but they have certainly improved a lot from last year. This match taught us not to take any conference match lightly. Our main objective is to finish the conference season undefeated. I think the girls are still competing well."
With the win, UNF takes a 6-3 lead in the SunTrust River City Rumble standings. UNF must tally 11 wins this year to win back the SunTrust Old Wooden Barrel from the Dolphins. The teams have 11 head-to- head meetings remaining in all sports.
The 5-0 start is UNF's best since 1998, when the team opened 9-0.
UNF returns to action next Thursday at home when it faces A-Sun foe Stetson at the UNF Tennis Complex. Match time is set for 2 p.m.
