University of North Texas
Florida International
Mean Green Drop Heartbreaker to FIU 4-3
4/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
MOBILE, Ala. - Mean Green tennis dropped its semifinal match with No. 1 seed FIU at the Sun Belt Championships 4-3 on Saturday morning at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts on the campus of South Alabama.
"We fought our hearts out today and came a little short. It was a terrific match that came down to the wire," said head coach Sujay Lama. "I am proud of this team. These ladies battled adversity all year long and kept working and believing."
North Texas (10-12) started the match a little flat in doubles and dropped the first two matches and the doubles point.
Court No. 1 featured the Mean Green duo of Barbora Vykydalova and Irina Paraschiv. The duo jumped out to a 3-1 lead before surrendering the match to the Golden Panthers Liset Brito and Maria Spenceley 8-3.
FIU also captured court three in similar fashion over NT's Madura Ranganathan and Paula Dinuta as Christine Seredni and Lisa Johnson won 8-3.
Singles was a differ story for the Mean Green as Paraschiv jumped out early and never looked back, taking the No. 2 singles match in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2 over the Golden Panthers Johnson and squaring the match at 1-1.
Senior Amy Joubert would give North Texas the 2-1 lead on court six as she also clinched the final match of her career in straight sets 6-1, 6-3.
SBC All-Conference honoree and 57th ranked Liset Brito of FIU brought the match to 2-2 as she defeated the Mean Green's Vykydalova by a deceiving 6-1, 6-2 margin.
Court three gave the Golden Panthers a 3-2 lead when Seredni downed NT's Dinuta 6-2, 6-4.
Junior transfer Nadia Lee came up huge in her first SBC semifinal matchup when she won her match over Spenceley in three sets, 6-2, 6-7, 6-4.
For the second straight year against FIU, it now came down to the North Texas senior on court five. After capturing the first set 6-4, Ranganathan battled back and forth with the Golden Panthers Rita Maisak throughout the second set before ultimately falling 7-5.
The decisive third set appeared to be going Maisak's way as she jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Ranganathan before the Mean Green senior strung two games together and clawed back in it.
The hole proved to be too much for Ranganthan as she fell in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 6-2. V
"We wanted Maddy and Amy to end their career with another ring," Lama added. "They have meant so much for our program and we will miss them and thank them for their contributions both on and off the court."
North Texas will host its season ending banquet on Sunday, May 1 at 6 p.m. Contact the North Texas Tennis coaching staff for more details.
Tennis Match ResultsNorth Texas vs FIU Panthers
Apr 23, 2011 at Mobile, Ala.
(Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts)
#63 FIU Panthers 4, North Texas 3
Singles competition
1. #57 Brito, Liset (FIU) def. Barbora Vykydalova (NT) 6-1, 6-2
2. Irina Parschiv (NT) def. Johnson, Lisa (FIU) 6-0, 6-2
3. Seredni, Christine (FIU) def. Paula Dinuta (NT) 6-2, 6-4
4. Nadia Lee (NT) def. Spenceley, Maria (FIU) 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4
5. Maisak, Rita (FIU) def. Madura Ranganathan (NT) 6-4, 5-7, 6-2
6. Amy Joubert (NT) def. Boha,Giulietta (FIU) 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. Brito, Liset/Spenceley, Maria (FIU) def. Barbora Vykydalova/Irina Parschiv (NT) 8-3
2. Maisak, Rita/Boha,Giulietta (FIU) vs. Nadia Lee/Amy Joubert (NT) 6-4, unfinished
3. Seredni, Christine/Johnson, Lisa (FIU) def. Paula Dinuta/Madura Ranganathan (NT) 8-3
Match Notes:
North Texas 10-12
FIU Panthers 12-6; National ranking #63
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (2,6,1,3,4,5)
Sun Belt Championships, Semifinals
#1 Florida International vs #4 North Texas
Players Mentioned
