Wednesday, May 05, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – No.68 University of North Florida will face No. 15 Florida State at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center, May 14-15 on the campus of FSU as announced Tuesday evening by the NCAA.

UNF (20-2, 9-1 A-Sun) captured the 2010 Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Tennis Championship to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championship. The Ospreys defeated then-No. 70 ranked ETSU, 4-1 in the finals.

“Our girls are very excited to be here,” said head coach Rodrigo Puebla. “Our team played a great conference tournament to cap off a fantastic season. We worked hard to make it to the NCAAs this season. Florida State is a great team and they have a great tradition at the NCAAs. We will have little over a week to prepare to try and make our mark at the national level.”

Leading the team all season was the 2010 Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, sophomore Aline Berkenbrock, who tallied a perfect 21-0 mark on the season at No. 1 singles. She along with senior partner Raquel Castro are ranked 80th in the ITA doubles standings. The pair posted an 18-3 record on the season at No. 1. They defeated the 57th ranked duo of Valentina Galbarini and Carolina de los Santos twice this past season with the last win coming in the A-Sun semifinals. Berkenbrock and Castro rallied in doubles in the A-Sun finals to secure the doubles point for the Ospreys.

Castro has a 16-4 singles mark on the season at No. 2 and was named to the Atlantic Sun Conference Second Team along with sophomore transfer Danielle Day. Day has tallied a 20-4 mark in her first season with the Ospreys and has played primarily at No. 3. Day won at the No. 3 in the A-Sun finals.

Freshman Melanie Aguirre won the No. 5 singles in the A-Sun finals to secure the conference title for the Ospreys. She earned a spot on the Atlantic Sun All-Freshman team and has a 13-4 record at No. 5 this season.

Juniors Victoria Krook and Lauren Holton are 20-2 and 17-2, respectively on the season. Krook has played primarily at No. 4 and Holton at No. 6. Krook also won her singles match in the A-Sun finals.