Florida Gators
Vanderbilt - SEC Tournament SF
W-Tennis Advances to SEC Tournament Final with Upset over Vanderbilt; Final to Start at 1 pm ET
Saturday, April 23, 2005 | Women's Tennis
Third-seeded Florida upset second-seeded Vanderbilt 4-1 in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Women's Tennis Tournament Saturday afternoon at the Alabama Tennis Stadium. The Gators (17-2) face top-seeded and third-ranked Kentucky (23-4) in the final beginning at 1 p.m. ET.
Florida makes its 17th appearance in the championship match in the 18-year history of the event. Saturday's victory also avenged the Gator's 4-3 regular season loss to the Commodores (20-5) on March 11th in Nashville.
"I didn't mention (the regular season loss to Vanderbilt), but I didn't have to because our team was well aware of it," UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. "We have a bunch of gritty players, who just fight. They play good defense and high-percentage tennis. With the conditions as windy as it was again today, it was difficult to hit the corners, but we hit balls back and made passing shots. I thought we handled ourselves really well."
Florida's only other loss this season was against Kentucky, which topped the Gators 5-2 on March 13 in Lexington. The Wildcats are making their first-ever appearance in the SEC Tournament final. Florida is the three-time defending champion of the event, which it has won 13 times.
The Gators, ranked No. 8 in the country, got off to a strong start with the solid play of their doubles team. Florida earned a shutout on court No. 2 with Whitney Benik and Alex Liles earning the 8-0 sweep over Amanda Fish and Taka Bertrand in 45 minutes. The No. 3 tandem of Boglarka Berecz and Nina Suvak then provided the clinching point on court No. 3 with an 8-4 win over Annie Menees and Caroline Ferrell two minutes later. The victory was the 50th for the pair of Berecz and Suvak, whose 50-10 record ranks as the fifth all-time in UF history.
"We started off playing spectacular doubles. (UF Associate Head) Coach (Dave) Balogh reviewed our matches against them on March 11th and really laid down a great game plan in doubles and our players executed the plan perfectly," Thornqvist said. "That set the tone and once we started singles we didn't give them anything. Vanderbilt had to earn every point they got."
Florida received singles victories from Alex Liles, Boglarka Berecz and Zerene Reyes, leading the Gators to their 11th consecutive victory.
Reyes provided the clinching dual match point with her 6-1, 6-4 win over Amanda Fish on court No. 2. Reyes lost her serve to begin the match, but quickly regrouped to close out the first set, serving out at love. Reyes the began the second breaking Fish and rode that lead until earning another break in the seventh game to take a 5-2 lead. But Fish broke right back and held to force Reyes to serve for the second set and the win, which she did in one hour and 46 minutes and collect her ninth straight singles victory.
"It was really windy again but I was pleased with how I played," Reyes said. "It feels very good to beat Vanderbilt after losing to them earlier in the season. But we played that match indoors, so to beat them outdoors shows us that we can beat top teams. Today's win was good for our confidence and we're looking forward to playing Kentucky."
One minute before Reyes' heroics, Boglarka Berecz rallied from a two-break deficit in the first set to defeat Caroline Ferrell 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 on court No. 6 and post her seventh consecutive singles victory. Ferrell jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, breaking Berecz twice before the Gator junior got on the board. Ferrell served for the opening set twice, the first time at 5-4 and again at 6-5, but Berecz battled to force a tiebreak, where she jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Ferrell charged back to tie the breaker, but Berecz kept her composure and took the first set on her third opportunity in one hour and 11 minutes. Berecz then rolled through the second set, earning breaks in the fifth and seventh games to give UF a 3-1 lead.
"It was a really tough match. The windy conditions were tough on both of us," Berecz said. "I started the match hitting to her forehand and that didn't really work out so I focused on attacking her backhand and moving her around the court. Even though I was down 3-0, I knew I could come back. The tiebreaker was tight but I was confident because every time we had a close game and she had a chance to close out the set, she didn't."
Freshman Alex Liles gave the Gators their first singles victory of the semifinals, downing Annie Menees 6-2, 6-3 at the No. 5 spot to earn her first postseason decision of her collegiate career. The first four games were service breaks before Liles was able to hold in the fifth game and then earned another to take a 4-2 lead en route to closing out the first set. There were five straight breaks late in the second set, with Liles able to end the trend in the ninth game as she held to win the match.
"My serve was going okay today in spite of the wind," Liles said. "I felt like I was doing the right thing with the right balls, mixing it up. I got in a groove that started during doubles play. (Whitney Benik) played really strong doubles and kept that going in singles. I was in a zone."
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
Alabama Tennis Stadium
Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Saturday, April 23, 2005
Semifinal Team Results
(1) Kentucky def. (5) Georgia, 4-2
(3) Florida def. (2) Vanderbilt, 4-1
UF's Individual Semifinal Results
Doubles
1. Audra Falk/Amanda Taylor (37), VU led Jennifer Magley/Zerene Reyes (9), UF 6-5 (DNF
2. Whitney Benik/Alex Liles, UF def. Taka Bertrand/Amanda Fish (47), VU 8-0
3. Boglarka Berecz/Nina Suvak, UF def. Annie Menees/Caroline Ferrell (49), VU 8-4
Singles
No. 1 Audra Falk (11), VU led Jennifer Magley (5), UF 6-4, 6-5 (DNF)
No. 2 Zerene Reyes (17), UF def. Amanda Fish (29), VU 6-1, 6-4*
No. 3 Taka Bertrand (56), VU def. Nina Suvak (116), UF 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Whitney Benik, UF led. Amanda Taylor, VU 4-6, 7-5, 2-1 (DNF)
No. 5 Alex Liles, UF def. Annie Menees, VU 6-2, 6-3
No. 6 Boglarka Berecz (70), UF def. Caroline Ferrell, VU 7-6 (7), 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles-2, 3; Singles-3, 5, 6, 2
*clinching doubles point/dual match
END OF REPORT
