Orlando, Fla. (01/19/07) ? Georgia State women's tennis doubles teams opened the UCF Invitational winning two of three doubles matches at the UCF Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon.  Sophomore sensations Dariana Kozmina (Kharkiv, Ukraine) and Martina Nitkova (Vratimov, Czech Republic) defeated Weronika Bloczynska and I. Kulaif from Texas-El Paso (UTEP) in Flight A. 

Junior Rachel Malina (Decatur, Ga.) and freshman Emma Stahl-Johansson (Sodertalje,Sweden) downed their opponent in Flight B 8-5.  Junior Kiera Strickland (Roswell, Ga.) and sophomore Brittany Smith (Toronto, Ontario) lost their first doubles match of the season 8-4 in Flight C.

In singles action, Nitkova, Strickland and  junior Mateja Podgorsek (Domzale, Slovenia) experienced first day wins in straight sets over Kulaif, Nilsa Ramirez and Harmonie Chatagner from UTEP, respectively.  Kozmina fell in the super tiebreaker to UTEP's Bloczynska. Malina, Smith and Stahl-Johansson all dropped their first singles match of the season.

The UCF Invitational will continue on Saturday and Sunday for the Panthers at 1:30 p.m.

Doubles

Flight A Kozmina/Nitkova (GSU) def. Bloczynska/Kulaif (UTEP) 8-6

Flight B Malina/Stahl-Johansson (GSU) def. Palider/Samantha Atard (UTEP) 8-5

Flight C Deluca/Chatagner (UTEP) def. Strickland/Smith (GSU) 8-4

Singles

Flight A Weronika Bloczynska (UTEP) def. Dariana Kozmina (GSU) 6-2, 3-6, 1-0(10-5)

Flight B Martina Nitkova (GSU) def. I. Kulaif (UTEP) 6-1, 7-5

Flight C M. Deluca (UTEP) def. Rachel Malina (GSU) 6-1, 6-3

Flight D Katherine Palider (UTEP) def. Emma Stahl-Johansson (GSU) 6-0, 6-2

Flight E Mateja Podgorsek (GSU) def. Harmonie Chatagner (UTEP) 6-2, 7-5

Flight F Megan Pritchard (UTEP) def. Brittany Smith (GSU) 6-3, 6-2

Flight G Kiera Strickland (GSU) def. Nilsa Ramirez (UTEP) 7-6(4), 6-3