Florida Gators
Arkansas (NCAA 2nd Rnd)
W-Tennis Defeats Arkansas 4-0 in NCAA Second Round
Sunday, May 13, 2001 | Women's Tennis
The University of Florida women's tennis team overpowered visiting Arkansas 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Championship at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex Sunday afternoon. The fourth-seeded Gators advance to the round of 16, where they will play 13th-seeded Notre Dame on Thursday, May 17 at the Lincoln Tennis Center in Stone Mountain, Ga.
"We did a very good job today of controlling the middle of the court. We controlled the flow of each point of each match," Florida coach Andy Brandi said. "We kept (the Arkansas players) on the defensive for the majority of each match. We haven't had two back-to-back matches like this all year. It's time for business and we're ready."
"I thought Florida was very focused today," Arkansas coach Kevin Platt said. "They really took it to us in doubles and had their foot on our throat from the very beginning and didn't really let up. That's the mark of a team that is very good and one that is driven. We felt good coming in."
Florida (22-2) won 21 of the 23 games played in the doubles, en route to capturing the doubles point and taking that momentum into singles play, where each Gator raced out an early break and took a 2-0 lead on every court.
Florida freshman Annika Bengtsson needed only 50 minutes to become the fourth different Gator this season to win a match 6-0, 6-0, as she topped Megan Ferreria at the No. 6 position.
"I basically did everything right today," Bengtsson said. "I took advantage of my shots and didn't make a lot of unforced errors. I'm very happy with the way I played today. It's great to be out there with the team."
Bengtsson's fellow rookie teammate, Lindsay Dawaf followed four minutes later with an impressive 6-1, 6-1 win over Julia Boyadjieva at the No. 3 spot.
"I felt like everyone did well," Dawaf said. "We competed hard and worked well as a team. We fought hard and didn't give them many opportunities to get into any of the matches."
Junior Jessica Lehnhoff improved her singles record to 36-5 this season after providing the clinching victory with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Brenda Vlasak at No. 2. The win was Lehnhoff's 98th of her career.
Florida was in control in the remaining three singles matches when play was abandoned. One of those matches was on the No. 1 court, where senior Whitney Laiho, ranked No. 7 in the country, was battling 16th-ranked Chin Bee Khoo. Laiho entered the match with 99 career singles wins and was aiming to claim the milestone victory in her final home match. She won the first set 6-3 and was on serve at 3-all in the second when the match was halted.
"I was disappointed not to be able to finish and get my 100th win here at home. That would have been great to do," Laiho said. "This weekend helped us a lot in preparing for next week. We all played very well and feel like the work that we've done over the last two weeks is starting to pay off."
NCAA Women's Tennis Championship
Second Round
Gainesville, Fla.
[4] Florida 4, Arkansas 0
Singles
No. 1 Whitney Laiho (7), UF vs. Chin Bee Khoo (16), AR 6-3, 3-3 suspended
No. 2 Jessica Lehnhoff (13), UF d. Brenda Vlasak, AR 6-3, 6-1*
No. 3 Lindsay Dawaf (46), UF d. Julia Boyadjieva, AR 6-1, 6-1
No. 4 Stephanie Hazlett, UF vs. Adriana Lopez, AR 6-1, 2-1 suspended
No. 5 Julia Scaringe (81), UF vs. Tara Reid, AR 6-0, 5-2 suspended
No. 6 Annika Bengtsson, UF d. Megan Ferreria, AR 6-0, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 Whitney Laiho/ Jessica Lehnhoff (4), UF d. Chin Bee Khoo/Brenda Vlasak (36), AR 8-1
No. 2 Stephanie Hazlett/ Julia Scaringe, UF d. Megan Ferreria/ Tara Reid, AR 8-1
No. 3 Annika Bengtsson/ Lindsay Dawaf, UF vs. Julia Boyadjieva/ Adriana Lopez, AR 7-1 suspended
*clinched dual match
END OF REPORT
