Miami, Fla. – The FGCU women's tennis team (4-3) was faced with another tough road test at #38 FIU (6-1) and fell to the Panthers, 7-0, Friday afternoon at the FIU Tennis Courts.

With the loss, FGCU is now 0-3 in road matches against FSU, UCF and FIU, all of which appear in the ITA's latest top-50. However, the Eagles are 4-0 in neutral and home matches and will return to Fort Myers for five straight matches at the FGCU Tennis Complex in the coming weeks.

"We were up against a very disciplined and talented team today," said FGCU head coach Courtney Vernon. "FIU challenged us, and we will grow a lot through another opportunity to compete today. We look forward to a number of home matches coming up and getting back to work tomorrow."

The Green and Blue were stymied in doubles action and couldn't swing the momentum in singles play as four of six matches were over in straight sets.

With senior captain Breana Stampfli (Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago/St. Joseph's Convent) out of today's match, Maja Ornberg (Kil, Sweden/De la Gardiegymnasiet, Lidkoping) and Bridget Forster (Boca Raton, Fla./Florida Virtual School) teamed up for the first time this season and were defeated by FIU's Ulyana Grib and Maryan Veksler, 6-1, in #2 singles.

Minutes later, the Eagles' top doubles tandem of Julia Ascúa (Santa Fe, Argentina/Domingo G. Silva) and Julianna Curtis (Tampa, Fla./Allendale Academy) lost its third straight match after winning 12 in a row dating back to last season as they were defeated, 6-3, by Andrea Lazaro and Nina Nagode.

As singles play began, FIU maintained its momentum and claimed the match with a trio of straight-set victories. Ornberg was faced with the tall task of facing Lazaro, who is currently ranked as the #34 singles player in the country, in #1 singles and fell 6-1, 6-1. Playing a position higher than usual, Ascúa dropped her match to Veksler 6-3, 6-2 and the Panthers got to within a point of claiming the match. Both Lazaro and Veksler improved to 6-0 on the year with their wins. The clincher came in the #6 position as Nerma Caluk defeated Sofia Perez (Costa Rica/Florida Virtual School) in back-to-back frames. After falling 6-2 in the first set, Perez put up a fight in the second frame but ultimately came up short, 6-4.

With the match already decided, Sara Kelly's (Naples, Fla./Florida Virtual School) three-match win streak was snapped in a three-set defeat to Grib. After trading the first two frames, the FIU counterpart won the match by taking the superset, 10-3. Laura Falceto Font (Zaragoza, Spain/El Pilar Maristas Zaragoza) then fell in a hard-fought match to Nagode as she dropped the first set 6-4 and battled in the second frame but lost the set, 7-5. In the final match of the afternoon, Curtis took the Panthers' Mina Markovic to three sets but lost the superset, 10-8.

RESULTS VS. FIU
Doubles
#1: Lazaro/Nagode (FIU) def. Ascúa/Curtis (FGCU): 6-3
#2: Grib/Veksler (FIU) def. Ornberg/Forster (FGCU): 6-1
#3: Markovic/Ferreira (FIU) vs. Falceto Font/Kelly (FGCU): 4-3, unfinished
 
Singles
#1: #34 Lazaro (FIU) def. Ornberg (FGCU): 6-1, 6-1
#2: Veksler (FIU) def. Ascúa (FGCU): 6-3, 6-2
#3: Markovic (FIU) def. Curtis (FGCU): 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 10-8
#4: Nagode (FIU) def. Falceto Font (FGCU): 6-4, 7-5
#5: Grib (FIU) def. Kelly (FGCU): 6-2, 4-6, 10-3
#6: Caluk (FIU) def. Perez (FGCU): 6-2, 6-4

Order of Finish: Doubles (2, 1); Singles (1, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3)

UP NEXT
The Eagles return to the FGCU Tennis Complex to host Xavier Wednesday, Mar. 8 at 11 a.m. The match against the Musketeers is the first of five straight home matches for the Green and Blue.  

FOLLOW ALONG
For up-to-date coverage of FGCU women's tennis, follow us on Twitter @FGCU_WTEN and visit www.FGCUAthletics.com where full recaps and results will be available.
 
HEAD COACH COURTNEY VERNON
FGCU's women's tennis team is led by reining ASUN Co-Coach of the Year Courtney Vernon, whose third season under the helm saw the Eagles finish in a program-best second place in the regular season conference standings and advance to their second consecutive Atlantic Sun Championship Final. She has mentored her student-athletes into earning a total of 29 ASUN All-Conference honors, including the 2014 and 2016 ASUN Freshman of the Year and 2016 Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Vernon has led the Green and Blue to a 40-32 overall record (.556) and 15-5 conference record (.750) in her three years at FGCU.
 
SUPPORT THE CAUSE 
FGCU Athletics sponsors events throughout the year to benefit the FGCU Campus Food Pantry (www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry) and the Harry Chapin Food Bank (www.harrychapinfoodbank.org), FGCU Athletics' charities of choice. For more information, including how to make a contribution, please visit www.fgcu.edu/foodpantry and utilize the hashtag #FeedFGCU to help raise awareness.