No. 60 Mean Green Tennis Defeat FIU, 4-3

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DENTON, Texas – No. 60 North Texas tennis defeated FIU, the defending Sun Belt Conference champions, 4-3 on Sunday at the Waranch Tennis Complex.

The Mean Green (8-4) jumped out on FIU (2-9) early during doubles play, but the Golden Panthers battled back and captured the point over North Texas winning two of the three matches.

Nadia Lee and Barbora Vykydalova grabbed the only Mean green doubles victory; when they dominated Rita Maisak and Sarah McLean on court one, 8-2.

Singles saw North Texas come back like it has so many times before, winning four of the six matches.

Seniors Paula Dinuta and Irina Paraschiv put the Mean Green in the lead early in singles play, with both destroying their opponents in straight sets 6-1, 6-1.

The Golden Panthers squared the match at two with a win on court one as Rita Maisak took down freshman Kseniya Bardabush 6-3, 7-5.

Not to be outdone, Lee notched North Texas’ third point with a 6-3, 6-3 win at the No. 2 singles slot.

Junior Valentina Starkova clinched the match with her victory at No. 3 singles, taking down Lisa Johnson in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6.

The North Texas win marked the first time the Mean Green have defeated FIU in the regular season and the second time overall.

North Texas will be back in action on Friday, March 2 when it travels to the top-25 Tulsa Golden Hurricane.