University of North Florida
Bethune Cookman
UNF knocks off red-hot BCC
4/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
April 5, 2007
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The University of North Florida women's tennis team snapped a three-match losing streak by upending a red-hot Bethune-Cookman squad 5-2 on Wednesday afternoon.
The Lady Ospreys (14-6) survived a stiff challenge on a hot day to knock off the Wildcats (19-3), who had won nine straight matches coming into Wednesday and 19 of their last 20 matches overall.
UNF captured a hard-fought doubles point with wins at the No. 2 and No. 3 matches, including a 14th consecutive victory by the Lady Ospreys' nationally ranked tandem of Florencia Torres and Ina Durcakova. Torres and Durcakova, 59th in the latest ITA doubles rankings, won 8-4 at the No. 2 position. Vanessa Sanchez and Robin Rogers followed that lead with an 8-2 win at the No. 3 position to give UNF a 1-0 lead heading to singles play.
In singles, the Lady Ospreys survived three tiebreaks at the top two positions to post hard- fought wins. Catalina Castillo defeated BCC's Olga Ruislova 7-6 (9), 4-6, 7-6 (5) at the No. 1 position, while Torres followed with a 7-6 (2), 6-3 victory at the No. 2 position over Lucia Polakova.
Also for UNF, Natalia Sanchez (4-6, 6-2, 6- 3) won at the No. 4 position and Rogers (6-0, 6-1) at the No. 6 spot to round out the day.
"Our girls knew that Bethune-Cookman was going to be a tough match," UNF assistant coach Rodrigo Puebla said. "We came out a little bit flat at the beginning, but after getting the doubles point we had a huge turnaround and finished the day on a high note. It was hot, and our opponents were playing great tennis, but our girls fought hard and found a way to win. We are finally taking advantage of our chances and playing at a high level."
UNF concludes its season on April 14 when it travels to Mobile, Ala., to face 47th-ranked South Alabama.
