Florida Gators
Baylor
Women's Tennis Tops Baylor, 4-2, advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
Friday, May 20, 2005 | Women's Tennis
It took three hours and 33 minutes, but No. 2-seeded Florida avoided becoming the fourth major upset of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Round of 16, defeating 15th-seeded Baylor 4-2 Thursday evening to advance to the quarterfinals. The Gators (21-2), who are making their 19th quarterfinal appearance in the last 21 years, face seventh-seeded Southern California (19-3) on Friday at 3 p.m. ET at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Baylor ends its best season in program history with a 24-6 record after making its second-ever NCAA Round of 16 appearance.
"Baylor was every bit as good as we thought they would be," said UF head coach Roland Thornqvist, who recorded his 99th victory during his four-year Gator tenure. "We were clearly better than they were in two of the doubles spots and that definitely helped our cause."
On court No. 2 senior Zerene Reyes battled Zuzana Cerna for two hours and 25 minutes and emerged with a 7-5, 6-4 victory to clinch the dual match for Florida, which won its 15th consecutive match.
"Zerene did today what she's been doing for four years," Thornqvist said. "Hopefully, she has a few more wins like that in her."
Reyes lost her serve to begin the match and played catch-up early until she broke Cerna in the fourth game. But Reyes again lost her serve and didn't break again until the eighth game to even the score at 4-all. Cerna broke the veteran Gator again and went to the baseline serving with a 5-4 lead. However, Reyes dug deep and broke back in a long game to keep the set alive, before holding and then breaking Cerna for the fourth time in the set to take the long opener 7-5. The second set also was spattered with breaks and multiple long rallies. Cerna took a 4-1 lead with a two-break lead, but Reyes stormed back and won the remaining five games to post her 12th straight singles victory.
"(Cerna) started playing really well to start the second set and I was the one missing the shots," Reyes said. "I knew I had to figure out how to start making her miss. I don't know if she started getting tired, but it started working out at the end."
Junior Jennifer Magley gave Florida a 3-2 lead after her 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 victory in one hour 59 minute over Zuzana Zemenova at No. 1. Magley opened the deciding third set with a break and was serving at 15-all when Zemenova fell to the court with an injury to her right ankle. After an injury timeout, Magley returned to the baseline and held to take a 2-0 lead. Zemenova then held, but Magley powered past the hobbling Bear, winning the remaining four games, dropping just one point in each of the final two games to take the victory.
"(Zemenova) has an incredible forehand and if it was anywhere in the vicinity of her strike zone I felt like I was being severely punished," said Magley, who won her eighth straight singles match while snapping Zemenova's 11-match win streak. "It's not often that I run into a player with a stroke like that and a part of me was just so tempted to keep hitting the ball to her forehand and get a good rally. But I had to remind myself to find a way to win the point and not worry about the rally. She got on a good roll in the second set. I gathered myself before the start of the third set and went up 1-0. At 15-all she went down with an injury and I needed to not let that bother me because I'm the type of person who doesn't want anyone to get injured. I couldn't let it be a distraction."
Florida came out hot in doubles, but it was Baylor that jumped out early in singles, winning the first set on three of the courts and looking to take the first set on court No. 2.
Whitney Benik continued her stellar NCAA play by winning her third singles match of the tournament with Thursday's 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 4 spot over Kaniela Covello to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
"I feel very confident in singles," Benik said. "I'm a little shaky in doubles, still, but feel very good in singles right now."
Baylor came right back with Carolin Walter's 6-3, 6-0 win over Nina Suvak. Eight minutes later the Bears tied the dual match at 2-all after Zuzana Krchnakova downed Lolita Frangulyan 6-1, 6-4 on court No. 6.
Long rallies also characterized the match between Alex Liles and Klara Zrustova on court No. 5. The two were in still in the third game of the opening set when the first set had been clinched on courts No. 4 and 6. Liles got off to a slow start, as well, falling behind 3-0 en route to losing the first set. But Liles battled back and earned the first break of the second set to take a 4-2 lead. She then broke again in the eighth game to win the set 6-2 and force a deciding third, where she jumped out to a 2-0 lead when play was abandoned once Florida clinched the victory.
The match began almost an hour late due to the length of the Kentucky-Tulane match, but once it began, the Gators came out smoking. The veteran pair of Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes, ranked No. 9 in the country, needed just 35 minutes to defeat 13th-ranked Zuzana Cerna and Daniela Covello at the No. 1 position.
The victory was Reyes 99th career doubles victory, moving her into ninth place all-time and inching her closer to becoming just the fifth Gator win record 100 singles and doubles wins during their career. Magley and Reyes raced out to a 7-0 lead before Baylor held to get on the board. But UF broke in the final game to take the victory.
Baylor took the No. 2 doubles position, but three minutes later the Gators claimed the doubles point thanks to the 8-2 victory by Lolita Frangulyan and Nina Suvak over Zuzana Krchnakova and Klara Zrustova. For the third straight match, Frangulyan replaced in the lineup Boglarka Berecz, who was recovering from a stomach illness. The Gator pair earned the first break of the match in the fourth game, breaking Zrustova at love to take a 3-1 lead. Frangulyan then held, losing just one point on her serve before the UF duo broke again to take a 5-1 advantage. Baylor broke right back, but UF earned its third break of the match to keep the advantage. Frangulyan then fought off one break point on her serve before taking the game on her third opportunity before the Gators broke Krchnakova in the final game to take the victory.
NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Round of 16
Dan Magill Tennis Complex
Athens, Ga.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
NCAA Round of 16 Team Results
(1) Stanford def. Harvard, 4-0
(8) Georgia def. California, 4-2
(13) North Carolina def. (4) Vanderbilt, 4-0
(12) Clemson def. (5) Northwestern, 4-3
(3) Kentucky def. (14) Tulane, 4-1
(11) Texas def. (6) Georgia Tech, 4-3
(7) Southern California def. (10) UCLA, 4-3
(2) Florida def. (15) Baylor, 4-2
Individual Florida Results
Final Score: Florida 4, Baylor 2
Doubles
1. Jennifer Magley/Zerene Reyes (9), UF def. Zuzana Cerna/Daniela Covello (13), BU 8-2
2. Zuzana Zemenova/Carolin Walter, BU def. Whitney Benik/Alex Liles, UF 8-4
3. Lolita Frangulyan/Nina Suvak, UF def. Zuzana Krchnakova/Klara Zrustova, BU 8-2*
Singles
1. Jennifer Magley (5), UF def. Zuzana Zemenova (23), BU 6-3, 2-6, 6-1
2. Zerene Reyes (13), UF def. Zuzana Cerna, BU 7-5, 6-4*
3. Carolin Walter (55), BU def. Nina Suvak (108), UF 6-3, 6-0
4. Whitney Benik, UF def. Kaniela Covello, BU 6-1, 6-4
5. Alex Liles, UF led Klara Zrustova, BU 3-6, 6-2, 2-0 DNF
6. Zuzana Krchnakova, BU def. Lolita Frangulyan, UF 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles-1, 2, 3; Singles-4, 3, 6, 1, 2
*clinched doubles point/dual match
END OF REPORT
