Women's Tennis Tops No. 9 Tennessee, 4-3

Friday, March 23

Gainesville, FL

4:00 PM

Florida Gators

TENNESSEE

Women's Tennis Tops No. 9 Tennessee, 4-3

Saturday, March 24, 2001 | Women's Tennis

The fifth-ranked University of Florida women's tennis team won its 102nd consecutive home match against an SEC opponent Friday evening with a 4-3 victory over No. 9 Tennessee. The win improved the Gator's overall record to 13-0 and 7-0 in SEC play, while the Lady Vols dropped to 14-2, 4- 1.

Florida secured the doubles point by winning the No. 1 and No. 3 positions. At the third spot, UF freshmen Annika Bengtsson and Lindsay Dawaf dominated Dana Noel and Agnes Wiski en route to a 8-0 victory in 29 minutes. At the top spot Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff, ranked 18th, defeated 13th-ranked Vilmarie Castellvi and Kim Gates 8-3 to clinch the team point for Florida. At the No. 2 position, UF's Stephanie Hazlett and Julia Scaringe found themselves trailing Crystal Cleveland 7-4, but held serve to close within 7-5 and jumped out to a 40-0 lead on Cleveland's serve. But the Gator pair hit five straight unforced errors and lost the match 8-5.

Florida senior Stephanie Hazlett re-aggravated her injured knee and defaulted during the first game of the second set after dropping the first 6-4 to Vilmarie Castellvi at the No. 3 position.

Gator freshman Lindsay Dawaf remained undefeated through 12 dual matches this season, providing Florida with its first singles win on the day with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Agnes Wiski at No. 4.

Junior Jessica Lehnhoff continued her impressive play with today's 6-0, 6- 3 victory over Kim Gates at the No. 2 position. Lehnhoff's win gave Florida a 3-1 lead in the dual match.

The No. 1 position featured a pair of ranked players, with 18th-ranked Whitney Laiho battling 83rd-ranked Alison Ojeda. Laiho was impressive in the opening set, winning 6-1. The Gator senior was broken in the eighth game of the second set as Ojeda evened the score at 4 games all, but Laiho broke right back and held serve to close the match 6-1, 6-4 and secure the Gator victory.

Gator freshman Annika Bengtsson seemed in control of her No. 6 singles match against Brooke Cordell. She won the opening set 6-0 and held a 2-0 lead in the second before Cordell came roaring back to take the second set 6-4. A 10-point tie-breaker was played to determine the winner, with Cordell jumping out to a 5-1 lead before hanging on to the 10-7 win to capture the match 0-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7). The loss was Bengtsson's first in dual match action this season.

At the No. 5 position, Crystal Cleveland hit countless passing shots en route to defeating UF sophomore Julia Scaringe 6-2, 6-4 to complete the dual match scoring.

Florida returns to action on Sunday, March 25, when the Gators play host to No. 4 Vanderbilt at 1:00 p.m.

NCAA Women's Tennis
Friday, March 23, 2001
Gainesville, Fla.
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex

Final Score: Florida 4, Tennessee 3

Doubles
No. 1 Whitney Laiho/ Jessica Lehnhoff (18), UF d. Vilmarie Castellvi/Kim Gates (13), UT 8-3
No. 2 Crystal Cleveland /Alison Ojeda, UT d. Stephanie Hazlett / Julia Scaringe, UF 8-5
No. 3 Annika Bengtsson/ Lindsay Dawaf, UF d. Agnes Wiski/Dana Noel, UT 8- 0

Singles
No. 1 Whitney Laiho (18), UF d. Alison Ojeda (83), UT 6-1, 6-4
No. 2 Jessica Lehnhoff (27), UF d. Kim Gates, UT 6-0, 6-3
No. 3 Vilmarie Castellvi, UT d. Stephanie Hazlett, UF 6-4 (injury default)
No. 4 Lindsay Dawaf (50), UF d. Agnes Wiski, UT 6-3, 6-0
No. 5 Crystal Cleveland, UT d. Julia Scaringe, UF 6-2, 6-4
No. 6 Brooke Cordell, UT d. Annika Bengtsson, UF 0-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7)