UNF knocks off Knights in home finale

Saturday, April 4

Jacksonville, Fla.

12 p.m.

University of North Florida

UCF

Sophomore Victoria Krook closed a crucial three-set match at the No. 5 position

4/4/2009 5:01:00 PM | Women's Tennis

The Lady Ospreys completed a perfect home season with a 4-3 win

By: Adam Jonson, UNF Athletics

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Completing a colossal comeback win that featured four three-set singles matches on senior day at the UNF Tennis Complex, the University of North Florida women's tennis team soared to an impressive 4-3 win against Central Florida to finish its home slate with a perfect record.

"UCF has a very good team who is well respected around the country, and they beat us last season," UNF head coach Rodrigo Puebla said. "So today's win means a lot to our program, as does going undefeated at home this season."

The Lady Ospreys finished the season 11-0 at home and upped their overall record to 14-4 (7-2 Atlantic Sun Conference). The Knights, who defeated Jacksonville 7-0 on Wednesday, fell to 10-9 on the season and lost their fifth in eight tries.

UNF watched the match begin in favor of the Knights when UCF took the doubles point with wins at the second and third doubles positions. Nationally-ranked No. 67 sophomore doubles pair Lauren Holton and Victoria Krook fell for the first time this season, dropping an 8-6 decision after leading the match 4-1. Their overall record now stands at 17-1.

"Losing the doubles point really put us behind in the early going, but the girls responded well and really picked up the intensity in singles action," Puebla said. "Our goal was to give it all we had, and we saw that we were capable of making the comeback and then stepped up and finished the win."

Junior Raquel Castro started things off on the right foot for UNF by rolling in straight sets at the No. 2 position. However, UCF grabbed the next two points in singles action in the form of a three-set win at No. 3 and a straight-set win at No. 2 to build a 3-1 overall lead while the remaining matches all needed three sets to be decided.

Holton closed the No. 6 match and inched the Lady Ospreys closer to a win by posting a 6-2 second-set win and a 6-1 third-set win. Krook then outlasted Katie Orletsky in the fifth slot, taking the first set 7-5, dropping the second set 6-2 and grasping a 7-6 third-set win with a 7-5 tiebreaker score.

With the match knotted at 3-3 and pushing into its fourth hour of play, the No. 1 singles match between freshman Aline Berkenbrock and UCF's Jenny Frisell went back and forth in the final set. Berkenbrock took the opening set 6-4, and Frisell evened the set score with a 6-3 win in the second set. Both players felt the effects of the heated day, but it was Berkenbrock that prevailed 6-3 in the third set to lift UNF over UCF.

"I feel like today was a match where everyone finally saw all of her hard work pay off," Puebla said. "Our conditioning played a big role down the stretch and all the girls played extremely well. It is important that we not become complacent with this win and continue to play well through our last three matches, especially in our final A-Sun match at Jacksonville Tuesday."

UNF will try to stay in the top of the league standings when it travels across town on Tuesday to face off with Jacksonville in a SunTrust River City Rumble.