W-Tennis Falls in SEC Tournament Semifinals

Saturday, April 21

Starkville, MS

3:00 AM

Florida Gators

Georgia (SEC Tournament - SF)

W-Tennis Falls in SEC Tournament Semifinals

Sunday, April 22, 2001 | Women's Tennis

Top-seeded Florida lost a 4-2 decision to fourth-seeded Georgia Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament. It is the first time in the 14-year history of the event that the Gators (20-2) have not reached the final.

Georgia (18-4) plays No. 2-seeded Tennessee in the final on Sunday beginning at 1:00 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET). The Lady Vols (23-2) defeated interstate rival Vanderbilt 4-3 in the other semifinal match to advance to their first-ever SEC Tournament final.

"Today's outcome has been coming for a long time," UF head coach Andy Brandi said. "We got away against it when we were facing other teams that were not at this level. When you let Georgia come back into a match, they are going to make you pay. They made us pay. We thought that they number one thing we had to do coming into this tournament was consolidating leads and we didn't do that."

There were three prime examples during the match where Florida held solid leads but couldn't capitalize.

Senior Stephanie Hazlett was up a set and 5-4 in the second, serving at 30-0, but eventually lost her battle and the deciding third set which provided Georgia the clinching dual match point.

Freshman Lindsay Dawaf led 5-2 in the first set, let that slip away into a tiebreaker where she led 6-3, but again couldn't hold onto the advantage and lost her match in straight sets.

Freshman Annika Bengtsson led her first set 4-0 and then 5-4, before losing in a tiebreaker en route to a straight-set loss.

"We just gave away so many opportunities," Brandi said. "This has been cultivating for a while and it finally caught up with us."

"This loss has something that's been a long time coming for us," sophomore Julia Scaringe said. "We were up on just about ever court and just didn't finish. We can either learn from it now or learn from it later. Today, was almost the exact reverse situation of last year against Georgia (in the final). We're ready to go back home and get to work. Maybe we came in here a little over-confidant and we lost."

After Florida won the doubles point, Georgia opened singles play quickly at the No. 2 position, as Mariel Verban raced out to a 5-0 lead against Jessica Lehnhoff. The Gator junior fought back to win the next three games, but Verban closed out the first set on her serve and then raced out again in the second set to take a 3-0 behind a pair of breaks. Lehnhoff then broke back and held serve to close within 2-3, but Verban won the final three games to win the match 6-3, 6-2 and give Georgia its first point of the dual match.

The No. 1 singles match was the next off the court. Seniors Whitney Laiho from Florida and Aarthi Venkatesan battled through several extremely long rallies. Laiho lost her serve to open the match, but got the match back on serve by breaking Venkatesan in the fourth game. The seventh game featured countless duces, but Laiho held and then broke Venkatesan in the next game before holding to win the first set 6-3. In the second set, both players opened with a service break. Venkatesan then held serve before breaking Laiho in another long game to take a 4-1 lead. But Laiho fought back and ripped off the next five games to win the match 6-3, 6-4 and give UF a 2-1 lead.

Florida jumped out quickly on courts Nos. 3 and 6, but lost the first set in both of those matches. At the No. 6 position, freshman Annika Bengtsson led Tina Hojnik 4-0 in the first, but couldn't hold the advantage. Bengtsson lost her serve in the sixth and 10th games as Hojnik knotted the set at 5-all and the players held serve to force a tiebreaker, where Hojnik cruised to a 7-1 win. Bengtsson couldn't recover from the loss and dropped the second set 6-2 as Georgia tied the match at 2-all.

On court No. 3, freshman Lindsay Dawaf leapt out to a 5-1 lead against Anne Nguyen, but lost the next four games. Dawaf then earned a service break, but couldn't hold serve and a tiebreaker was needed to decide the opening set. In the tiebreaker, Dawaf led 6-3 with two mini-breaks in her pocket, but again couldn't hold off Nguyen, who won five of the next six points to win the opening set 7-6 (6). Nguyen opened the second with a service break and then held serve for the 2-0 lead. Dawaf fought back and won the next two games, before Nguyen ripped off the next three to earn a 5-2 advantage and was serving for the match. Dawaf broke on the next game and held serve to close within 5-4, but Nguyen held serve in a close game with several duces and provided the third win for Georgia.

At No. 4 singles, UF senior Stephanie Hazlett was aiming for her 100th career victory, while facing freshman Agata Cioroch, who entered the match with a perfect 19-0 collegiate record. The Gator veteran lost her serve to open the match and Cioroch held to take a quick lead. Both players held serve until Hazlett won the sixth game, held serve, earned another break and then closed the first set by holding. In the second both players held serve for the first six games before Hazlett earned the first break to take a 4-3 lead. The next three games were all service breaks and Cioroch ended that trend in the 11th game before breaking Hazlett for the third time in that set to take the second 7-5 and force a deciding third. Both players opened the third losing their serve. Cioroch then held before breaking Hazlett in the fourth game. Again she held serve and broke Hazlett to take a 5-1 lead. Hazlett fought back to break Cioroch in the next game. But Cioroch proved too tough down the stretch and won clinched the dual match with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory.

"I wasn't feeling good all day and I just ran out of gas in the third set," Hazlett said. "I had my chances. I was up 5-4, 30-love in the second set and should have closed it out, but it didn't. (Agata Cioroch) continued to fight and never gave up."

At No. 5, UF's Julia Scaringe and UG's Lori Grey each held serve through the first five games of the set. Neither player could hold serve for the next five games, as Grey took the opening set 6-4. In the second set, neither player relinquish their serve until Scaringe caught Grey in the fifth game, then held serve, broke again before serving out the set to take it 6-2. Scaringe earned three of breaks to open the third and led 4-1 when her match was suspended.

Florida won the doubles point by winning at the Nos. 1 and 2 positions.

UF's ninth-ranked duo of Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff battled 11th-ranked Lori Grey and Aarthi Venkatesan at the top spot. The match opened with four straight serves breaks and then the teams held for the next three games until the Gator tandem broke Grey's serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. Laiho then held serve at love to give UF a 6-3 advantage. Venkatesan countered for Georgia and served a love game and then sparked the Bulldogs on Lehnhoff's serve to win the opening three points. But the Gators rallied to hold serve and then broke Grey to clinch the match at 8-4. The victory kept the duo undefeated through 25 matches this season, including a perfect 19-0 record in dual match play.

On court No. 2, UF's Stephanie Hazlett and Julia Scaringe squared-off against Agata Cioroch and Tina Hojnik. Unlike the No. 1 match, the two teams held serve through the opening five games. The Gators earned the first break of the match to take a 4-2 lead off Hojnik's serve. Georgia broke back off Scaringe, but the Florida maintained its break advantage taking the next game. Hazlett then held serve and then broke Hojnik's serve again to take a 7-3 lead. Scaringe was unable to hold in the ensuing game and Georgia kept its hopes alive. Florida then had two match points on Cioroch's serve, but couldn't convert. The Bulldogs used that survivor mentality in the next game, breaking Hazlett's serve at love to close to 7-6. But Florida broke Hojnik's serve for the third time in the match to earn the 8-6 victory and clinch the doubles point for the Gators.

UF's No. 3 team of Annika Bengtsson and Lindsay Dawaf were up one break, serving at 6-5 when their match against Christa Grey and Mariel Verban was suspended.

Today was the 11th time the two schools have meet in the SEC Tournament, however it was just the first time the Gators and Bulldogs did not square-off in the finals. Prior to today's semifinal match, Florida led the SEC Tournament meetings 8-2.

SEC Women's Tennis Tournament

A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre

Starkville, Miss.

Saturday, April 21, 2001

Team Semifinals

#2-Seed Tennessee d. #3-Seed Vanderbilt 4-3

#2-Seed Georgia d. #1-Seed Florida 4-2

UF Individual Results

Doubles

No. 1 Whitney Laiho/Jessica Lehnhoff (9), UF d. Lori Grey/Aarthi Venkatesan (11), UG 8-4

No. 2 Stephanie Hazlett/Julia Scaringe (48), UF d. Agata Cioroch/Tina Hojnik (50), UG 8-6*

No. 3 Annika Bengtsson/Lindsay Dawaf, UF vs. Christa Grey/Mariel Verban, UG 6-5 suspended

Singles