Florida Gators
Kentucky (SEC Tourn. QF)
Women's Tennis Tops Kentucky 4-1 in SEC QF
Friday, April 19, 2002 | Women's Tennis
The University of Florida women's tennis team survived blazing heat and the Kentucky Wildcats, advancing to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament with Friday's 4-1 win at Sam Daniel Tennis Center. The second-seeded Gators (17-1), who needed almost four and half-hours to top seventh-seeded Kentucky (16-8), will play third-seeded Vanderbilt on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m.
Top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Georgia plays fourth-seeded South Carolina in the other semifinal match.
With on-court temperatures near 100-degrees, Florida dropped the doubles point in grueling fashion, losing the No. 3 position after a 2 hour and 39 minute battle. But the Gators regrouped before the singles competition, and came out on fire to win on courts Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 in straight sets to seal the victory.
"We talked about not hanging our heads after losing the doubles point, but instead use it as motivation entering singles play," UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. "We jumped out right away in singles and that's what you like to see after losing the doubles point. Sometimes to win a tournament, you have to have a tough match in the beginning."
Junior Julia Scaringe provided the finishing touches on the Gator victory with her 7-5, 6-2 win over Leigh Bradwell at the no. 6 spot. Scaringe earned a service break in the eighth game of the first set to get the match back on serve and both players held until Scaringe broke Bradwell in the 12th game to take the first set. Bradwell broke back in the first game of the second set, but Scaringe continued to fight and broke on the next game and again in the sixth game en route to the win.
"We were really anxious to get singles started because it was so hard to just sit there, watching and waiting for such a long time," Scaringe said of the time between the doubles and singles competition. "I've had a lot of bad breaks this season with injuries, but I knew I had to put that in the past and play my hardest out there today. Things finally clicked for me today and it felt good."
Senior Jessica Lehnhoff, who played her first match since receiving the No. 1 singles ranking the nation, was the first Gator off the court, defeating Sarah Witten 6-1, 6-2. Lehnhoff quickly found herself in a 2-0 deficit in the second set, but rallied to close out the match winning the final six games.
Sophomore Lindsay Dawaf then gave Florida a 2-1 lead in the dual match with her 6-2, 6-3 victory over Carolina Mayorga. Dawaf was serving for the match at 5-3, but lost a tough game before breaking Mayorga to secure the win.
At the No. 4 position, Gator freshman Alexis Gordon used her dominating serve and powerful ground-strokes to win the first 11 games against Amy Trefethen. The Wildcat was able to avoid the 'double-bagel,' as Gordon turned in an impressive 6-0, 6-2 win to put the Gators within one victory of securing the dual match, which Scaringe did shortly thereafter.
In the deciding marathon No. 3 doubles match, UF's Annika Bengtsson and Zerene Reyes led UK's Amy Trefethen and Jill Buckley by one break, 7-5 in the eight-game pro-set. But the Wildcats survived multiple long rallies in each game to win the next three games to force a tiebreaker en route to the 9-8 (9-7) victory. Florida won the No. 1 doubles match, while Kentucky captured the match on court No. 2.
The regular-season meeting between the two schools was agonizingly familiar, as Florida won 5-2 with the dual match lasting 5 hours and 35 minutes. It was the No. 3 doubles match that decided the doubles point, which the Gators claimed 8-6 after 2 hours and 33 minutes of constant baseline battles.
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
Columbia, SC
Friday, April 19, 2002
Team Results, Quarterfinals
(1) Georgia 4, (8) Ole Miss 0
(4) South Carolina 4, (5) Tennessee 1
(3) Vanderbilt 4, (6) Auburn 0
(2) Florida 4, (7) Kentucky 1
UF's Individual Results
Doubles
1-Lindsay Dawaf/Jessica Lehnhoff (5), UF d. Carolina Mayorga/Sarah Witten, UK 8-5
2- Leigh Bradwell/Lauren Rookledge, UK d. Alexis Gordon/Julia Scaringe, UF 8-6
3- Jill Buckley/Amy Trefethen, UK d. Annika Bengtsson/Zerene Reyes, UF 9-8 (9-7)*
Singles
1-Jessica Lehnhoff (1), UF d. Sarah Witten, UK 6-1, 6-2
2-Lindsay Dawaf (16), UF d. Carolina Mayorga, UK 6-2, 6-3
3-Zerene Reyes (52), UF vs. Lauren Rookledge, UK DNF
4-Alexis Gordon (85), UF d. Amy Trefethen, UK 6-0, 6-2
5-Annika Bengtsson, UF vs. Jill Buckley, UK DNF
6-Julia Scaringe, UF d. Leigh Bradwell, UK 7-5, 6-2*
*clinching match/doubles point
END OF REPORT
