CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Despite a vigilant fight in the singles contest, the FGCU women's tennis team was unable to earn the upset victory as the Eagles fell to No. 9 Miami by a score of 6-1 on Friday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
 
With the loss, FGCU drops to 2-7 on the season while Miami improves to 4-2.
 
"We battled today," FGCU head coach Courtney Vernon said. "They are a quality opponent and I thought our team played well enough to come away with a few of these matches. We're improving every time we take the court and days like this will prepare us for conference play."
 
FGCU found themselves down 1-0 after quickly dropping the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles slots. The sister duo of Sarah Means and Elizabeth Means were in a tight match against Stephanie Wagner and Sinead Lohan in the No. 1 slot before the play was suspended after Miami clinched the doubles point.
 
The Hurricanes came out to the singles matches with authority, claiming five out of six first sets in dominating fashion. However the Eagles started to retaliate from all courts, determined to fight until the end, but Miami showed what a No. 9 team in the country is made off after putting away the match in the No. 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 slots.
 
Earning the lone point of the day was Johanna Sterkel (Schwetzingen, Germany/Carl-Theodor-Schule HS) in the No. 3 slot against Miami's Yolimar Ogando 7-6, 7-5. Sterkel was engaged in a closely contested first set which had to be decided by a tiebreaker. Sterkel then rose to the occasion to win the tiebreaker 7-0. In the second set both players did not miss a beat as the score was leveled at 5-5. At the crucial moment, Sterkel was not going to drag the set into another tiebreaker as the junior claimed two games in a row to a 7-5 second set win. After the win, Sterkel improves her spring record to a team-leading 6-2.
 
The Green and Blue will head back to South Beach on Saturday Feb. 28 when they take on the Panthers of FIU in a 2 p.m. start.
 
FINAL SCORE
 
FGCU 1. No. 9 Miami 6
 
Doubles
1. Sarah Means/Elizabeth Means (FGCU) vs Stephanie Wagner/SineadLohan (Miami) 4-6
2. No. 17 Monique Albuquerque/Clementina Riobueno (Miami) def. Johanna Sterkel/Julianna Curtis (FGCU) 8-1
3. Lina Lileikite/Silvia Fuentes (Miami) def. Candela Munoz Giron/Breana Stampfli (FGCU) 8-2
 
Singles
1. No. 36 Sinead Lohan (Miami) def. Sarah Means (FGCU) 6-0, 7-5
2. No. 61 Clementina Riobueno (Miami) def. Breana Stampfli (FGCU) 6-3, 6-3
3. Johanna Sterkel (FGCU) def. Yolimar Ogando (Miami) 7-6, 7-5
4. Silvia Fuentes (Miami) def. Elizabeth Means (FGCU) 6-1, 6-1
5. No. 98 Wendy Zhang (Miami) def. Candela Munoz Giron (FGCU) 6-1, 6-4
6. Monique Albuquerque (Miami) def. Julianna Curtis (FGCU) 6-2, 6-2
 
Order of finish
Doubles (2,3) singles (6,4,5,1,2,3)

NEXT UP
The Green and Blue will head back to South Beach on Saturday Feb. 28 when they take on the Panthers of FIU in a 2 p.m. start.

COURTNEY VERNON
FGCU is led by Courtney Vernon, whose inaugural campaign saw the Eagles finish third in the conference standings with a Division-I best 14 wins overall in 2013-14. She has produced five A-Sun All-Conference selections and the 2014 Freshman of the Year.

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