Gators top Miami for Spot in NCAA Sweet 16

The doubles team of Belinda Woolcock (left) and Josie Kuhlman clinched the initial team point.

Gators top Miami for Spot in NCAA Sweet 16

Sunday, May 14, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Final Scores (PDF)NCAA Tournament Central NCAA Championship Draw Postmatch Press Conference

Florida will be making its 34th appearance in the NCAA Round of 16

By: Kathy Cafazzo

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Impressive doubles play followed by singles victories from Brooke Austin, Ingrid Neel and Anna Danilina helped the Gators defeat Miami, 4-1, at the Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex on Sunday afternoon and advance to the NCAA Championships round of 16.

The top-seeded Gators (25-3) will play 20th-ranked Texas A&M (17-12) or 16-seed Baylor (22-6) in their next match held Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the campus of the University of Georgia, which plays host to the remainder of the NCAA Championships. That match will be Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET.

On Sunday, Florida got off to a strong start on the doubles courts, where its top pair of Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel needed just 25 minutes to blank Sinead Lohan and Dominika Paterova. The Gator's three team of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock, raced out to a 4-0 lead en route to a 6-2 victory to secure the doubles point.

In singles action, Florida captured the first set on five of the six courts and rode those to straight-set victories. Neel, the lone freshman on the Gator roster, won her second NCAA match, this time logging a 6-2, 6-1 victory for her 20th singles win of the season and gave Florida a 2-0 lead.

Austin was next to complete her match, posting a 6-2, 6-2 decision and the Gators took a 3-0 advantage against Miami (13-12). Austin broke Ana Madcur's serve all four times in the second set and then held to close out the win.

The Hurricanes prevented the shutout with a 6-2, 6-2 decision on court two, before Danilina also won for the second time in as many days as she downed Silvia Fuentes, 6-0, 6-3, and posted the clinching victory. After cruising in the first, Danilina found herself in a tight battle in the second. The Gator junior broke Fuentes in the seventh game for a 4-3 lead, before the Hurricane needed a medical timeout. Once play resumed, Danilina held serve and broke one final time to secure her team-leading 31st victory of the season.

Double the Fun

The Gators won the doubles point for the 25th time in 28 matches, as UF captured victories on courts one and three against the Hurricanes.

Numbers of Note – at a Glance

Florida will be making its 34th appearance in the NCAA Round of 16
UF won its 26th consecutive NCAA home match, dating back to a 4-3 loss to Miami in 2004
The Gators improved to 18-1 all-time in NCAA Round of 32 matches
This was the Gator's 27th consecutive win against in-state opponents
UF improved to 42-11 all-time in NCAA action when playing as the No. 1 seed
UF is now 109-28 all-time in NCAA matches

UF vs. Miami: The Series

59-match series: UF leads 38-21 (UF at Home 19-7; Away 12-13; Neutral 7-1)
Last Meeting: UF defeated Miami 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 NCAA Championships held in Athens, Ga., on May 19, 2012)
Of Note: the Gators have won 27 consecutive matches versus in-state opponents, including a 2-0 record this year (def. FIU, 4-0, January 29)
NCAA History: UF now leads 6-2 in NCAA matches vs. Miami; the most stunning of those matches was a 4-3 Hurricane win in the 2004 NCAA second round played on May 15, 2004 in Gainesville. UF was the No. 1 seed and the reigning NCAA champion. That loss was the last time the Gators lost a home match until this season - span of a program-record 163 straight home victories. That is the only time UF has dropped an NCAA first or second round in program history. Including the 2017 NCAA first and second round wins, UF has since won 26 consecutive NCAA home matches and sports a 37-1 overall record in the opening two rounds of the NCAAs since the field expanded to 64 teams in 1999.

Gators at a Glance

The Gators have won four of their last six matches.
The Gators have won the doubles point in 25 of 28 matches.
UF is 24-1 when winning the doubles point this year. The only loss was in the 4-3 SEC Tournament Final loss at No. 2 Vanderbilt.
Two of the Gator's three losses have been against Vanderbilt, which was awarded the NCAA No. 4 seed.

Individual Gator News (this season)

Anna Danilina has won 10 straight singles matches – the longest active streak by a Gator
Danilina has won a team-leading 31 singles matches
The doubles team of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock sport a 20-3 dual match record at the No. 3 position (21-3 at all positions), which is the second-most in a season by a Gator pair at the three spot in program history. Three other tandems have won 21 times on court three.

Florida at the NCAA Championships

The Gators sport an all-time NCAA record of 109-28, including a 19-0 record in the round of 64 and an 18-1 mark in the round of 32.
UF has been selected to host first and second round matches every year since the NCAA Women's Championships expanded its field to 64 teams in 1999.
The Gators have participated in 35 of the 36 NCAA Championships, missing only the 1986 event.
The Gators won six NCAA team titles: 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011 and 2012.
UF has advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals 24 times in the last 30 years.
In 1996, Florida became only the second team in NCAA women's tennis history to sweep the team, singles and doubles titles.
Florida was the first of only two schools in NCAA women's tennis history to produce both the NCAA singles champion and finalist in the same year. Shaun Stafford defeated teammate Halle Cioffi in the finals of the 1988 championship.

Quotes from the Court

WATCH the Gator's complete post-match presser with Coach Thornqvist, Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel

UF Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Opening thoughts on the win:
"I thought we were ready today. We were really good in doubles. Playing UMass and the pace they brought really prepared us for today. We knew it was going to be a little bit of a different style, tactically different when we played Miami today because they play two back a lot, they like to slow it down, roll and prevent us from moving. UMass yesterday pressed us and tried to move first. Tactically and challenging, I thought our team was really good. We started out strong, had some duce points in doubles early and I think we won all of them – three or four right in a row, in particular on (courts) one and three and that really set the tone for us. We continued to play good doubles throughout.

"In singles, since they do like to run and roll, we knew that it was going to be a tougher challenge for us at some spots and I thought our team was ready for it. We were ready to play long points when we had to. I thought all along during the three-week lead-up to the tournament that we were playing really well in practice. Sometimes you don't see that in these first two matches because of the rust factor, but I have not seen that with this team. They have been playing as well as they were hitting in practice and I've been really pleased with the weekend overall."

UF Junior Anna Danilina
"I think we came out really today, in singles and in doubles and did what we needed to do against this team. They aren't really easy to play, they have a lot of good players who are going to fight to the end so you really have to win it yourself. They aren't going to give it to you. Especially in this hot weather, I thought we did a great job competing and what we needed to do to advance to the sweet 16."

NCAA Women's Tennis Championships – Second Round
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 28 Miami
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex * Gainesville, Fla.
Sunday, May 14, 2017

Final Score: Florida 4, Miami 1

Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3*)
1. #11 Anna Danilina / Ingrid Neel, UF d. Sinead Lohan / Dominika Paterova, UM 6-0
2. #20 Brooke Austin / Kourtney Keegan, UF vs. Ana Madcur / Estela Perez-Somarriba, UM DNF - UF 5-4
3. #45 Josie Kuhlman / Belinda Woolcock, UF d. Maci Epstein / Silvia Fuentes, UM 6-2*

Singles (Order of Finish: 3, 5, 2, 4*)
1. #6 Belinda Woolcock, UF vs. #21 Sinead Lohan, UM DNF - UF 7-5
2. #40 Estela Perez-Somarriba, UM d. #23 Josie Kuhlman, UF 6-2, 6-2
3. #31 Ingrid Neel, UF d. Dominika Paterova, UM 6-2, 6-1
4. #44 Anna Danilina, UF d. Silvia Fuentes, UM 6-0, 6-3*
5. Brooke Austin d. Ana Madcur, UM 6-2, 6-2
6. #59 Kourtney Keegan vs. Maci Epstein, UM DNF - UF 6-3, 5-3
Updated Records: UF 25-3; Miami 13-12

NOTES: NCAA seeds - UF No. 1, Miami 17-32 … Florida advances to NCAA Round of 16 and will play the winner of the match between Baylor and Texas A&M in Athens, Ga.

FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube |
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators

-0-