Oct. 11, 2009
By Brian Ormiston
UCFAthletics.com
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Sophomore Taylor Dubins claimed her first-career title Sunday when she won the Flight C singles bracket at the UNF Fall Invitational. Dubins lost only four games in the semifinals and finals combined to earn the crown.
"I'm very excited for Taylor," said head coach Stephanie Nickitas. "She played some very smart tennis this weekend, utilizing her strengths well. This win should be confidence-building and also give her motivation to keep up the hard work."
Dubins first defeated Samford's Emily Mallory, 6-0, 6-1, before taking down Coastal Carolina's Maria Camberos, 6-3, 6-0, in her last match of the event.
Two other Knights were in action on Sunday as well. Sophomore Alexis Rodriguez advanced all of the way to the Flight A singles semifinals only to fall to Indiana's Leslie Hureau, 6-2, 6-0.
"Alexis had a great tournament and played very well all weekend," said Nickitas. "Today, she faced a very good player that came out and had a great match. Alexis should go home feeling confident about her game. She is improving tremendously and needs to keep believing in herself and see the progress she is making."
Rodriguez, meanwhile, teamed up with freshman Jenna Doerfler and the duo made an appearance in the finals of the Flight B bracket, but suffered an 8-4 loss to Samford's Madelie Janse Van Rensburg and Stephanie Parkison.
"The doubles team of Alexis and Jenna had an awesome string of matches and they really played aggressively," described Nickitas. "Something clicked with the two of them where they really let themselves by more attacking. Both of them showed a lot of progress and they should be really proud of the way they played doubles this weekend."
UCF will now look forward to taking part in the annual ITA Southern Regionals hosted by Auburn Oct. 23-26.
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UCF's Day Three ResultsA Singles - SemifinalsLeslie Hureau (IU) def. Alexis Rodriguez (UCF) 6-2, 6-0
C Singles - SemifinalsTaylor Dubins (UCF) def. Emily Mallory (Samford) 6-0, 6-1
C Singles - FinalsTaylor Dubins (UCF) def. Maria Camberos (C. Carolina) 6-3, 6-0
B Doubles - FinalsMadelie Janse Van Rensburg / Stephanie Parkison (Samford) def. Alexis Rodriguez / Jenna Doerfler (UCF) 8-4