WT: Mavs split weekend in Florida
2/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
By Cassie Logan | @c4ssielogan
ARLINGTON, Texas - The UT Arlington women's tennis team split its first pair of spring road matches this past weekend in Florida.
The Mavericks (5-1) captured a win at UCF 4-1 on Saturday and fell victim to their first ranked opponent of the season in No. 62 Florida International 4-1.
UTA returns to the UTA Tennis Center for four consecutive games beginning Thursday against Temple at 2 p.m. The Mavs are in the midst of a four-match win streak in Arlington.
Match 1: UT Arlington 4, UCF 1
Astrid Gehre and Jessica Birowski struck first with a 6-3 win in doubles play. The Knights evened the overall score with 7-6 decision over No. 3 Agustina Serio and Luxizi Meng. UTA's No. 1 pairing in Elizabeth Thoms and Angeles de los Rios clinched the doubles point 7-6 in the final match.
"We had two tough matches on the road," UT Arlington coach Diego Benitez said. "We played really well against Central Florida. They're a very solid team and we played very good doubles.
"The score was tight and that really made a difference going into singles with that momentum. The girls played really well at the beginning of singles, getting early leads and leading in most of the first sets. That was a really big advantage to be able to close the match."
UCF opened singles play with a win over Carla Cerdan Vives 6-4, 6-0, but the Mavs remained persistent to secure the overall victory with wins from de los Rios, Gehre and Serio in the following three matches.
Serio improved to 5-0 and de los Rios moved to 3-0, the only two Mavericks left undefeated in singles matches this season.
Match 2: No. 62 Florida International 4, UT Arlington 1
No. 3 Serio and Valeria Lopez was the lone pair to pull out a win against the nationally ranked Panthers in doubles play 6-1. Gehre and Birowski came up just short 6-4. A 6-2 victory over de los Rios and Thoms handed Florida International the doubles point.
In singles play, Meng kept UTA from being swept with a 6-4, 6-4 win in the No. 6 position. The freshman is now 3-1 on the season.
"Doubles came down to the last match," Benitez said. "We couldn't close it, but I'm happy with the performance. It was a match that could have gone either way. Even though the score was 4-1, we were in control on a couple of courts.
"Doubles was a deciding factor for sure. I'm happy with the way the girls are playing. I'm looking forward to a few home matches coming up for us."
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