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By FRANK PASTOR
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 24, 2001
JACKSONVILLE -- A year away from the state tournament did not hurt Cristina Lucin, as the Wesley Chapel junior advanced Monday to the semifinal round for the second time in three seasons.
Lucin, who skipped last year's tournament to compete in a national event in New York, picked up where she left off in 1999, when she advanced to the semifinals as a freshman at Land O'Lakes.
Lucin defeated her first two opponents in straight sets, setting up a semifinal showdown against Gulliver Prep's Krystin Lucas in the Class 2A individual tournament at the University of North Florida.
Lucas, the tournament's top seed, advanced to the final round of the U.S. national tournament two weeks ago in Orlando.
Lucin struggled to a 6-4, 6-2 victory against Palmetto's Amanda McClure but shook the rust off in time to defeat Gulf Breeze's Elizabeth Wilkes 6-0, 6-1 in the quarterfinals.
"I wanted to go and just play my game and have fun," Lucin said. "So far, I'm very happy."
Elsewhere, first-round wins by Jessica Roberts, Jennifer Rimes and Nisha Shah in singles and Rimes and Ashley Campbell in doubles powered Lecanto to a third-place tie after the first day of the girls team tournament.