FIU Women’s Tennis Falls to No. 37 Rice in C-USA Finals Match, 4-1

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DENTON, Texas (April 23, 2017) – The FIU women's tennis team (21-2) fell to the top-seeded Rice Owls, 4-1, in the finals of the 2017 Conference USA Women's Tennis Championship on Sunday. Rice (18-5 and No. 37 in the latest Oracle/ITA Women's Tennis National Rankings) took an early 1-0 lead, winning the doubles point as Mina Markovic and Gabriela Ferreira fell to Savannah Durkin and Katherine Ip, 6-0, and Nina Nagode and Andrea Lazaro dropped a 6-2 decision to Lindsey Hodges and Wendy Zhang.   The Panthers drew even at 1-all as Nagode opened singles play with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Fernanda Astete. The victory for the senior was her 13th of the season and 75th of her career. The Owls regained the lead, 2-1, as Maryna Veksler fell to Ip, 6-1, 6-2. Markovic lost to Zhang, 6-4, 6-3, to give Rice a 3-1 edge. The Owls clinched the match and claimed this year's title with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 win for Durkin over Grib. The loss snapped a school-record, 19-match winning streak for the Panthers as FIU suffered just its second defeat of the season. Selections for the 2017 NCAA Women's Tennis Championships will be announced via NCAA.com on Tuesday, May 2, at 5:30 p.m. ET. Fans are encouraged to follow the Panthers on Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUWTennis) for all the latest FIU women's tennis news. Follow all of FIU's 18 athletic teams on Twitter (@FIUAthletics), Facebook (Facebook.com/FIUSports), YouTube (FIUPanthers), and Instagram (FIUathletics).#####About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including FIU Arena and Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public ...

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