Palm Beach, Fla. (April 7, 2008) – The No. 29 Saint Leo women’s tennis team (10-6) defeated the Palm Beach Atlantic Sailfish (10-9) 6-3 Saturday afternoon in West Palm Beach.

Saint Leo got off to a good start in their regional match-up with the sailfish, as they won two of three doubles contests. SLU No. 1 duo of Lina Benkrane (So., Casablanca, Morocco) and Asmaa Tazi (Jr., Casablanca, Morocco) picked up the Lions first point of the day, as they defeated the tandem of Lina Rubiano and Natalie Aleman 8-4. In the No. 3 doubles position, the pair of Gina Schifano (So., Tampa, Fla.) and Veronica Queen (Fr., Valrico, Fla.) rolled past the team of Krishna Domenech and Kelly Schwartz 8-2. The lone loss for the Lions came out of the No.2 position, as Taylor Cleaves (So., Norwell, Mass.) and Shaena Keefe (So., Spring Hill, Fla.) dropped and 8-6 heartbreaker to the Sailfish duo of Montsy Ripoll and Katie Livesay.

Saint Leo enjoyed tremendous singles success winning four of the six matches. Lions singles No.1 Benkirane fell at the hands of Ripoll 6-2, 6-1 while SLU No.2 singles player Tazi took out Rubiano 6-3, 6-1. In the No. 3 spot the Lions’ Keefe was defeated in the super tiebreaker falling 6-2, 3-6, 10-8. Queen, Schifano and Cleaves each came victorious on the afternoon. Queen blanked Domenech 6-0, 6-0. Schifano rolled rolled past Schwartz 6-2, 6-3 and Cleaves came out on top of a hard fought match with Pam Beach’s Livesay 7-5, 6-3.

The Lions return to SSC play Monday, April 7 for a 3:00 p.m. match-up with the University of Tampa at the SLU Tennis Center.