Florida Gators
Riviera All-American (Day 4)
UF's Julie Rotondi Wins Riviera Con. Singles Title
Sunday, October 13, 2002 | Women's Tennis
University of Florida junior Julie Rotondi (Hingham, MA) outdualed Missouri's Urska Juric 7-5, 7-5 to claim the 2002 Riviera/ITA All-American Championship consolation singles title Sunday afternoon.
This was the inaugural singles event Rotondi has played as a Gator since transferring from North Carolina this summer.
Juric had been the talk of the tournament during the week, surviving four rounds of pre-qualifying matches and three rounds of the qualifying draw just to earn her way into the main draw. She had faced several match points against her during the trip into the main draw, so Juric's determination and fight were a primary concern to Rotondi entering Sunday's final.
"Today's match was an absolute battle," UF assistant coach Dave Balogh said. "Julie had to stay mentally tough for the entire match because she knew Juric was never going to quit or give up at an point during the match. Julie did an outstanding job of staying focused and not dwelling too long on any one point. This was a great win for her. It was as big of a mental win as it was a victory on the scoreboard."
Sunday's match capped the week-long event for the Gators, who began competition at the Riviera Tennis Club on October 8 with the qualifying event. In addition to Rotondi's victory, UF had several other outstanding performances during the week, highlighted by the doubles pair of Alexis Gordon (Windsor, CT) and Julia Scaringe (Marietta, GA) advancing to the semifinals. Junior Lindsay Dawaf (Olney, MD) reached the quarterfinals of the main draw, while Zerene Reyes (Mexico City, Mexico) battled through the second round of the main draw after beginning her run in qualifying.
"It's been a great week for us," Balogh said. "We competed extremely well in every match. We represented ourselves as well as any other school who competed this weekend. I'm so proud of our players."
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