Tuesday, January 29, 2002

FIU opens spring season at home vs. Barry

he No. 30-ranked Florida International University women’s tennis team opens its 2002 spring schedule tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 2:30 p.m. against Barry at the University Park tennis courts.

Five letterwinners return from last year’s No. 24-ranked NCAA Tournament squad, led at No. 1 singles by Anneliese Rose. The two-time all-conference performer enters this year with a No. 90 national ranking.

Freshman newcomer Ágnes Buronyi, the 16th-ranked amateur in her native Hungary and third-place finisher at the 2000 National Championships, steps into the No. 2 singles position.

One area where improvement is expected is doubles. This past fall, Rose and Cristina Campana won the Omni Hotels/ITA South Regional doubles championship and the duo is ranked No. 18 in Division I.

Former University of Miami All-American Ronni Reis-Bernstein returns for her sixth year in charge of the Golden Panthers. Her 77-39 FIU record makes Bernstein the winningest coach in program history. Last year’s team finished with a 23-3 record including an 11-3 mark against ranked opponents and a program-best No. 16 national ranking by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association in its Mar. 28, 2001 poll.

The Golden Panthers will play a schedule representative of their lofty ranking. Following season-opening matches against Barry and Florida Atlantic (Feb. 2), FIU plays four-straight nationally-ranked teams in South Alabama (Feb. 3), Florida (Feb. 8), Mississippi State (Feb. 10) and Miami (Feb. 13), all at home.

After a Feb. 15-17 weekend road trip to Texas for matches against SMU, TCU and Texas Tech, it’s back to the Sunshine State against more ranked opponents like Virginia (Mar. 6), Florida State (Mar. 10) and Tennessee (Mar. 23). The season concludes with the Sun Belt Conference Championships, Apr. 19-21, in Mobile, Ala.

“We’re going to need to be ready right from the beginning of this schedule,” said Bernstein. “If we’re not, it’s going to be a long season. We’ve got tough matches all the way through so we won’t be able to peak in April. We’ll need to be ready to go starting tomorrow.”

The FIU intercollegiate tennis courts are located on the west side of the University Park (south) campus. Admission to all matches is free.