Wednesday, May 23, 2001

Rose Eliminated in first round of NCAA Singles by old nemeses

f FIU's Anneliese Rose never has to play Vanderbilt's Julie Ditty again in women's tennis singles, it will be too soon.

In a replay of the No. 1 singles match of the NCAA Team Championship Tournament two weekends ago in Nashville, the No. 15-ranked Ditty and No. 59 Rose met again, this time for the Individual Championships being played in Stone Mountain, Ga.

Despite severe weather conditions that caused the match to be delayed for more than a day and forced the use of indoor courts, the Vanderbilt senior prevailed over the younger Rose, 6-2, 6-4.

Ditty moves on, but this time, assumes the underdog role when she plays Aarthi Venkatesan of Georgia, a seven-seed in the tournament.

For Rose, her season ends, but not before putting FIU women's tennis on the map and ranked among the nation's elite. FIU finished the season with a 23-3 record which included a 4-0 shutout of Penn State in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. The Golden Panthers were 11-3 against ranked foes in 2001 and had that same record versus schools receiving invitations to this year's NCAA Tournament.

All six FIU singles regulars have recorded 20-or-more overall wins this year, led at the top by the junior Rose (Boynton Beach/Atlantic HS) who ranked as high as No. 59 in the WingspanBank.com Collegiate Tennis Rankings.

More of the same should be expected next year with the return of five letterwinners, four of whom recorded more than 20 singles wins this past year.