No. 44 Women's Tennis Defeats UCF, 5-2

Orlando, Fla. (February 1, 2006) ? No. 44 University of South Florida women's tennis team took care of intra-state rival UCF, 5-2, Wednesday afternoon at the UCF Tennis Complex.

USF (2-0) opened the match with an 8-1 victory as the No. 5 ranked duo of Gabriela Duch and Neyessa Etienne defeated UCF's Pamela Fernandez and Kyla McNicol. The Bulls then proceeded to sweep the No. 2 and 3 doubles matches to take the 1-0 advantage over the Golden Knights.

For the second-straight match, junior Duch, clinched a win for the Bulls when she defeated UCF's Kenza Belbacha, 6-4, 6-2 at the No. 4 singles position. Also earning wins for the Bulls were No. 96 Liz Cruz, Neyssa Etienne and Courtney Vernon.

The Bulls now hold a 10-3 advantage over the Golden Knights in their last 13 meetings.

USF will return to the courts on Wednesday, February 8, 2006, when they travel to Gainesville, Florida to take on the No. 2 ranked Florida Gators. First Serve is set for 2 p.m.

No. 44 USF vs. UCF
February 1, 2006
UCF Tennis Complex

Singles
1. Neyssa Etienne (USF) def. Pamela Fernandez (UCF), 6-3, 6-3
2. Courtney Vernon (USF) def. Anna Yakimchenkova (UCF), 6-4, 6-1
3. No. 96 Liz Cruz (USF) def. Jennifer Carati (UCF), 6-1, 6-0
4. Gabriela Duch (USF) def. Kenza Belbacha (UCF), 6-4, 6-2
5. Megan Hunter (UCF) def. Iciri Rai (USF), 1-6, 6-3 (10-6)
6. Kyla McNicol (UCF) def. Luisa Obando (USF), 4-1 (ret.)

Doubles
1. No. 5 Duch/Etienne (USF) def. Fernandez/McNicol (UCF), 8-1
2. Cruz/Rai (USF) def. Hunter/Yakimchenkova (UCF), 8-3
3. Vernon/Obando (USF) def. Carati/Becky Gordon (UCF), 8-4

Order of finish - Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,3,2,4,1,5).