Feb. 16, 2008

No. 15 Duke Knocks Off No. 6 Florida, 4-3

DURHAM, N.C. - The 15th-ranked Duke women's tennis team defeated sixth-ranked Florida, 4-3, on Friday evening at Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center, as sophomore Elizabeth Plotkin recorded a three-set triumph to clinch the victory for the Blue Devils.

With the win, Duke's first over the Gators since 2003 and fourth of all-time, the Blue Devils improve to 2-0 on the season while Florida falls to 3-1 on the year.

The Gators came out strong in doubles as Megan Alexander and Marrit Boonstra opened with an 8-5 win over junior Melissa Mang and sophomore Amanda Granson at No. 1. The Florida pair of Whitney Benik and Lolita Frangulyan then posted an 8-6 victory over the Blue Devil tandem of sophomore Tara Iyer and freshman Reka Zsilinszka at No. 2 to clinch the point for the Gators.

Julia Cohen and Anastasia Revzina came away with a tight 8-7 (7-3) win over the 21st-ranked duo of Plotkin and freshman Ellah Nze at No. 3 to complete the doubles sweep for Florida.

Singles action saw Duke win four of six first sets, but Florida took the first victory as Julie Cohen defeated Iyer, 6-0, 6-3, at the top position to put the Gators up, 2-0.

FSU Women's Tennis Continues To Roll With Win Over No. 30 Auburn

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The 22nd-ranked Florida State women's tennis team continued their dual match winning streak on Friday as the squad improved to 7-0 with a win over No. 30 Auburn (4-2). Facing their toughest opponent to date, FSU won four of six singles matches and the doubles point to down the Tigers 5-2. Florida State extended its match win streak to 54 before the run was broken in the second singles match of the day.

"Going into today we knew it was going to be a bit of a dog fight because Auburn is a very competitive team," said FSU Head Coach Jennifer Hyde. "We knew that we were going to have to match and exceed that (competitiveness). We did not play our best tennis but more importantly we had a willingness to hang in there and make them hit one more ball, to stay in points a little bit longer and that made a huge difference today."

Despite seeing Katie Rybakova, the 16th-ranked player in the nation, fall in a dual match for the first time in her collegiate career the Seminoles went on to win the next three matches to secure the victory. The win increased FSU's lead in the all-time series with Auburn to 12-2.