Feb. 16, 2006
ORLANDO - The UCF women's tennis team faces a tough challenge in Miami this weekend as the Golden Knights try to extend their winning streak to three matches at No. 25 Florida International on Friday at noon and at No. 13 Miami on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Golden Knights improved their record to 3-2 and gained some valuable confidence after beating North Florida, 5-1, and Florida A&M, 6-0, last week. Junior Megan Hunter continues to shine, winning her last three consecutive matches and going 4-1 thus far this spring. Freshman Elvira Serrot and sophomore Anna Yakimchenkova, who hails from West Palm Beach, have also performed well at the top of the UCF lineup proving their talents by winning both easy and challenging matches.
Meanwhile, the Golden Knights have not played a doubles match in competition since losing to then No. 44 USF on Feb. 1. In their previous two outings, doubles play was cancelled due to inclement weather.
The Golden Panthers have posted a 2-1 record thus far with the only loss coming at the hands of Miami. The junior tandem of Nikkita Fountain and Paula Zabala was listed at No. 24 in the FILA/ITA rankings as of Jan. 10.
In 23 previous meetings, FIU owns a 16-7 advantage over the Golden Knights.
The Huuricanes evened their record at 3-3 overall with a 4-3 loss to No. 2 Florida on Feb. 12. Despite the loss, No. 40-ranked junior Audrey Banada received Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Player of the Week honors. She and doubles partner Melissa Applebaum are listed at No. 40 in the nation.
Miami owns a 6-0 lead in the all-time series against UCF.