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Women's Tennis to Duel with FIU, Stetson

Oct. 8, 2004

ORLANDO - The UCF women's tennis team will try to hone its skills against Florida International and Stetson when it plays in its second tournament of the fall season in DeLand from Oct. 9-10.

Much like the USF Tournament at the end of September, this tournament is set up as a mock dual. UCF will play FIU at 10 a.m. on Saturday before taking on the Hatters on Sunday at noon. Scores will be kept but will not count against the team record.

Golden Knights' head coach Patricia Allison saw some good play from her athletes against USF and FIU in Tampa two weeks ago. All four veterans came up with a win in singles competition. Senior Kristina Lohomos pulled out a straight set win over USF's Marie Andrade at No. 2 and picked up the second set against FIU's Paul Zabala at No.1 before being forced to retire due to the heat.

At No. 4, senior Ola Luczak earned a win over USF's Fabiana Taverna with a 10-3 win in the tiebreaker after losing the tie breaker 10-4 a day before to Golden Panther Desanka Jovanovic. Junior Pamela Fernandez and sophomore Megan Rosario-Hunter got victories versus FIU.

Freshmen Kyla McNichol, Jennifer Carati and Becky Gordon showed their potential on the courts. Carati played at both No. 1 and No. 2 singles, while McNichol earned a doubles win with partner Luczak against FIU. Gordon played at No. 6 singles and paired with Fernandez at No. 2 doubles against USF.

"The key to the fall is trying to get the players competing in games," said Allison. "It also allows me to mix up the doubles teams and decide which duos work."

The fall season culminates with a trip to Tallahassee to participate in Florida State's tournament from Oct. 28-30.