Gators Take Control Of Final Rounds of ITA Regionals

Sunday, October 23

Gainesville, FL

9:00 AM

Florida Gators

ITA Regionals (Day 4 of 5)

Gators Take Control Of Final Rounds of ITA Regionals

Sunday, October 23, 2016 | Women's Tennis

By: Kelsey Bibik

Main Draw Doubles | Main Draw Singles | Back Draw Singles

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The final rounds of the 2016 ITA Southeast Regional Championships have been dominated by Gators, with six appearing in the Doubles semifinals and four in the Singles quarterfinals on Sunday. The Gators are hosting the tournament that is played at UF's Ring Tennis Complex.

Sunday proved to be tough for Florida, as nearly every Gator still in the competition was forced to play at least one match against their teammates. No. 1 Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock faced off against No. 3 Anna Danilina and Spencer Liang in the doubles semifinal round, with Kuhlman/Woolcock coming out on top in the end. The pair will face Georgia's Christofi/Shaffer on Monday to fight for the doubles title. The fifth-seeded pair from Georgia knocked No. 8 Kourtney Keegan and Peggy Porter out of the competition in the semifinals.

The singles competition was no easier for the Gators, as the doubles pairs were split up to play each other for a spot in the semifinals. Danilina was forced to retire from a grueling match against her partner, Liang; the two were tied throughout the first set, that lasted nearly as long as every full match going on around them. Kuhlman defeated her partner, Woolcock, to advance to the semifinals, where she defeated Miami's Maci Epstein in a quick 6-4, 6-2 win. Liang was ultimately defeated in the semifinal round, sending Georgia's Eleni Christofi to Monday's final round.

Action continues at the Ring Tennis Complex Monday at 10 a.m. with the Singles Final, followed by the Doubles Final after a one hour break.

Quoting Head Coach Roland Thornqvist:
"It was another day of just great tennis; I was really pleased. Whenever you play against your teammates its really difficult because you want to mind your manners. But I thought our players played super hard and had great sportsmanship, I was really proud. You should be able to play your heart out and do it in a way to where you're classy about it, and I thought we did a great job with that."

"Spencer [Liang] has had an unbelievable run in singles, I thought she was fantastic this week. She ran into a player who was great, I mean she was flawless. In the middle part of the match I think [Eleni] Christofi had about a 30-minute span where she did not miss a ball, which just pinned us down. I know that was really difficult for Spencer, I thought she had a chance there, but overall she's playing really well and that's great for the Gators."

"Tomorrow's going to be a great final in both singles and doubles and we look forward to one more day against the Bulldogs."

Quoting junior Josie Kuhlman:
On how she handling the tournament so far:
"Today was a pretty long day with three matches, started off with a pretty long doubles match and then two really tough singles matches. You really just need to focus on one at a time because everybody is so good at this level, you just have to take it as it goes."

On her mindset going into tomorrow's finals match:
"I'm just going to go play my game and have fun like I've been doing all weekend."

UF Results Only

Main Draw Doubles Semifinals
Kuhlman/Woolcock (UF) def. Danilina/Liang (UF), 3-6, 6-4, 10-6
Christofi/Shaffer (UG) def. Keegan/Porter (UF), 6-2, 4-6, 10-5
Main Draw Singles Quarterfinals
Spencer Liang (UF) def. Anna Danilina (UF), 7-6 (7) Ret.
Josie Kuhlman (UF) def. Belinda Woolcock (UF), 6-4, 6-4
Main Draw Singles Semifinals
Eleni Christofi (UG) def. Spencer Liang (UF), 6-4, 6-3
Josie Kuhlman (UF) def. Maci Epstein (UM), 6-4, 6-2

2016 ITA Southeast Regional Championships Presented by Oracle
Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, FL
Oct. 23, 2016

The Basics

What: 2016 ITA Southeast Regional Championships Presented by Oracle
Who: Athletes from 17 different schools will be competing in an individual singles and doubles tournament.
When: Thursday – Monday, Oct. 20-24
Where: Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Florida
Parking: The parking restrictions for the GREEN SPOTS only in the Law School parking lot located next to the Tennis Complex have been lifted and fan parking is free.
Tickets: admission is free

On the Line

Singles and doubles champions from each of the ITA Regional Championships held across the country receive an automatic entry into the 2016 USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships.
The USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships, considered the second leg of the collegiate Grand Slam, will be held Nov. 3-6 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY.

Following the Action

Results from all completed matches will be posted to FloridaGators.com
The draws from the ITA Southeast Regional Championships will be available as PDF files on FloridaGators.com
Qualifying Singles Draw - http://floridagators.com/documents/2016/10/13//Qualifying_Singles.pdf
Qualifying Doubles Draw - http://floridagators.com/documents/2016/10/13//Qualifying_Doubles.pdf
Main Draw Singles - http://floridagators.com/documents/2016/10/13//MAIN_Singles.pdf?id=15971
Main Draw Doubles - http://floridagators.com/documents/2016/10/13//MAIN_Doubles.pdf?id=15972
Backdraw Singles - http://floridagators.com/documents/2016/10/13//Backdraw_Singles.pdf?id=15973
The ITA and FloTennis will be live streaming the event
There is a fee for the live stream: http://www.flotennis.com/event/253673-2016-ita-women-s-southeast-regional

About the Draws

All matches in the Qualifying Draw will be held on Thursday, with eight singles players and three doubles teams feeding into the Main Draw.
The qualifying portion features a 32-player Singles Draw and an 8-team Doubles Draw
The Main Draw features a 64-player singles Draw and a 32-team Doubles Draw
There is a Main Draw Backdraw for first-round losers in singles; none for doubles

Daily Schedule of Play

Thu., Oct. 20: Qualifying Draws – 1 round of Doubles; 2 round of Singles – 8:30 a.m. start
Fri., Oct. 21: Main Draw (and possible Backdraw) – 2 rounds of Doubles; 1 round of Singles – 8:30 a.m. start
Sat., Oct. 22: Main Draw and Backdraw – 1 round of Doubles; 2 rounds of Singles – 8:30 a.m. start
Sun., Oct. 23: Main Draw and Backdraw – 1 round of Doubles; 2 rounds of Singles – 9:30 a.m. start
Mon., Oct. 24: Main Draw and Backdraw – Singles Final; Doubles Final – 10 a.m. start

Format & Scoring

No-ad scoring will be used in all ITA singles and doubles matches in the fall season.
In all ITA Regional Championship events a doubles match must consist of a minimum of an 8-game pro set (tiebreak at 7-all), with the semifinals and finals doubles matches consisting of two out of three sets, with a Match Tiebreak in lieu of the third set.

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