The Roland Thornqvist era got off to a successful start Friday afternoon as the No. 3 ranked University of Florida women's tennis team won its season opening dual match with a 4-1 victory over No. 32 Florida International.
"It was good to get this first match under our belt," UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. "We've been beating each other up in practice for the last three weeks and everyone was really looking forward to this day. The first match of the year is always difficult and I thought we handled it well."
Today's match marked the first time in 18 years that the Gators have competed under a head coach other than Andy Brandi, who resigned at the end of last season.
"For me personally, it was just great to compete as a Gator," said Thornqvist, who is in his sixth year overall as a head coach.
As if following in the footsteps of the former legendary UF head coach wasn't challenging enough, Thornqvist and his squad entered its season opener with just five healthy players, forcing the Gators to default the no. 6 singles and no. 3 doubles matches before even taking the court against the Golden Panthers (3-1).
Florida fought its way out of the early deficit, capturing the remaining two doubles matches to claim the doubles point and even the match at 1-all.
In singles action, the Gators won at the no. 2, no. 3 and no. 4 positions to close out the victory, while the matches on courts no. 1 and no. 5 did not complete play.
UF sophomore Lindsay Dawaf (Olney, MD) opened singles action with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Anges Buronyi at the no. 2 spot.
Freshman Alexis Gordon (Windsor, CT) then followed with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Christina Campana at the no. 4 position to give the Gators a 3-1 lead in the team score.
Gator freshman Zerene Reyes (Mexico City, Mexico), who joined the team in January, won her collegiate debut and polished off the dual match victory with a 6-1, 6-4 decision over Mei Ly.
Florida next travels to Coral Gables to play No. 38 Miami on Saturday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
NCAA Women's Tennis
Florida 4, Florida International 1
Friday, February 08, 2002
University Park * Miami, FL
Doubles
1-(2) Lindsay Dawaf/Jessica Lehnhoff (UF) d. (18) Christina Campana/Anneliese Rose (FIU) 8-4
2-Alexis Gordon/Zerene Reyes (UF) d. Dominique Rosenberg/Maria Montoya (FIU) 8-3
3-Florida defaults
Singles
1-(2) Jessica Lehnhoff (UF) vs. (94) Anneliese Rose (FIU) DNF
2-(22) Lindsay Dawaf (UF) d. Agnes Buronyi (FIU) 6-0, 6-2
3-Zerene Reyes (UF) d. Mei Ly (FIU) 6-1, 6-4*
4-(48) Alexis Gordon (UF) d. Christina Campana (FIU) 6-1, 6-3
5-Annika Bengtsson (UF) vs. Maria Montoya (FIU) DNF
6-Florida defaults
*clinched dual match
END OF REPORT
