March 8, 2014
Box Score
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - The LMU women's tennis team split the decisions on the six courts in singles, but Florida International earned the victory by a count of 4-3 at the LMU Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. Jessica Perez, Miya Jin and Ellie Grossman each recorded singles victories, while Jin and Perez combined to earn a win on the first court in doubles.
Jin and Perez took down Nina Nagode and Tina Mohorcic, 8-2, on the top court in doubles, earning the first decision of the match. Unfortunately for the Lions, FIU claimed victories on courts two and three as Orlando-Briceno defeated Grossman and Lauri Mueller, 8-4, before Trifunovi-Boha edged Reka Rohonyi and Kristine Kouyoumjian, 8-5, to earn the doubles point.
Florida International pushed its lead to 2-0 by way of Mohorcic's victory over Mueller on court four, 6-4, 6-3. Jin, playing on court three, got the point back for LMU with a win over Aleksandra Trifunovi, 6-4, 6-4. LMU got back to even in the match score one decision later as Freshman Grossman defeated Valentina Briceno, 7-6, 6-2.
With the match tied at 2-2, Rohonyi did well to try to force a third set after dropping the opener, 6-0. Rohonyi battled to a tiebreaker in the second set, but she was unable to force a third frame, eventually falling and handing the Panthers the 3-2 lead in the match score.
Needing the final two courts to take a win, LMU turned its attention to the first and second courts. Kouyoumjian battled hard on the top court, falling 7-5 in the first set before rallying to take a 6-1 victory in the second over Carlotta Orlando. Orlando was able to stop the momentum in the third and final set, earning a 6-0 win to ensure that FIU left LMU with a victory.
While the match was already decided, freshman Jessica Perez took it upon herself to make sure the Lions left on a high note. After dropping the first set, Perez stormed back to defeat Nagode, 4-6, 5-2, 6-1.
The Lions will return to action on March 15 when they begin WCC play at Santa Clara.
