Florida Gators
South Carolina (SEC Tournament QF)
Florida Women?s Tennis Downs South Carolina in SEC QF
Friday, April 21, 2006 | Women's Tennis
The University of Florida women's tennis team made quick work of South Carolina in the quarterfinal round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, sweeping the Gamecocks 4-0 Friday morning at the Ring Tennis Complex.
With on-court temperatures at 97 degrees, Nina Suvak capitalized on her fourth match point to earn a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Miranda Gutierrez at the No. 4 position to clinch the victory in just under two and a half hours for the Gators (19-1), who have advanced to the SEC semifinals each of the 19 years the event has been played.
The Gators will face fifth-seeded Tennessee (12-11) in the semifinals on Saturday at 10 a.m. Florida leads the all-time series versus UT, 29-0, including a 4-0 record in SEC Tournament play. The Lady Vols upset fourth-seeded Georgia 4-3 in a quarterfinal match lasting four hours with on-court temperatures recorded at 98 degrees.
Florida, the No. 1 seed and four-time defending SEC Tournament champions, got off to an impressive start with dominating play on the doubles courts against the eighth-seeded Gamecocks (12-10). Keri Robison and Nina Suvak needed just 35 minutes to post an 8-2 win over Megan McGavock and Justine Walsh on court No. 3 before Lolita Frangulyan and Diana Srebrovic polished off Christyn Lucas and Miranda Gutierrez 8-1 at No. 2 to give the Gators the doubles point for the 16th time this season. The No. 1 team of Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon held a 7-0 lead in their match when play was abandoned.
“In doubles, I thought we played a lot better than we have in the last couple of weeks, particularly at No. 1,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “Our No. 2 and No. 3 teams have been playing aggressive doubles for a while, so they were par for the course. Doubles certainly set the tone today. South Carolina's a really good team and we just didn't let them play and it started with doubles.”
Benik gave the Gators a 2-0 lead with her 6-0, 6-1 victory on court No. 3 over Christyn Lucas. The Gator sophomore held serve through out the match with Lucas able to prevent the double-bagel by holding her serve in the second game of the second set. Benik was able to hold in the third game of the second set, which lasted 12 minutes, and carried that momentum the rest of the way en route to winning her 50th career singles match. During the April 15th regular season, Benik and Lucas were entering a third set when play was abandoned after the Gators clinched the dual match.
Srebrovic placed Florida one win from the team victory after her 6-1, 6-3 decision over Natasa Vuckovic at the No. 2 position. The Gator sophomore earned the first break of the match in the fourth game, before earning another in the sixth and serving out for the opening frame. Vuckovic held to begin the second, before Srebrovic held and earned another break, which she rode into the seventh game where she broke again. Vuckovic tried to rally, breaking Srebrovic next game, but Srebrovic ended any thoughts of a comeback and broke the Gamecock rookie to clinch the victory and improve to 33-8 this season.
Florida won the first sets on the remaining three singles matches that were abandoned immediately following Suvak's clinching victory. Alex Liles led her No. 5 match 6-2, 5-3 and Keri Robison held a 7-5, 5-2 lead, while Alexis Gordon won the first set 6-4 and trailed 2-0 in the second at the end of the match.
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Friday, April 20, 2006
Quarterfinals
Final Score: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 8 South Carolina 0
Doubles
No. 1 #41 Benik/Gordon, UF, vs. Schofield/Vuckovic, SC, 7-0, suspended
No. 2 Frangulyan/Srebrovic, UF, def. Lucas/Gutierrez, SC, 8-1 (0:49)*
No. 3 Robison/Suvak, UF, def. McGavock/Walsh, SC, 8-2 (0:35)
Singles
No. 1 #14 Alexis Gordon, UF, vs. #51 Gira Schofield, SC, 6-4, 0-2, suspended
No. 2 #5 Diana Srebrovic, UF, def. Natasa Vuckovic, SC, 6-1, 6-3 (1:15)
No. 3 #124 Whitney Benik, UF, def. Christyn Lucas, SC, 6-0, 6-1 (1:02)
No. 4 Nina Suvak, UF, def. Miranda Gutierrez, SC, 6-3, 6-1 (1:23)*
No. 5 Alex Lies, UF, vs. Megan McGavock, SC, 6-2, 5-3, suspended
No. 6 Keri Robison, UF, vs. Justine Walsh, SC, 7-5, 5-2, suspended
Order of finish: Doubles-1, 2; Singles-3, 2, 4
Quotes
Florida
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
“In doubles, I thought we played a lot better than we have in the last couple of weeks, particularly at No. 1. If we don't give away points there, I think we're good enough to play with anybody. No. 2 and No. 3 have been playing aggressive doubles for a while, so they were par for the course. Doubles certainly set the tone today. South Carolina's a really good team and we just didn't let them play and it started with doubles.”
“We knew mentally how good South Carolina was. The fact that they won three first sets on us in singles last week gave us a little bit more of a mental edge – there's no question about it. They proved that they can play and our players stepped up.”
“If we've played a team and beaten them soundly the first time around, there's not a whole lot you want to do other than emphasize what you did the first time. If you've lost to a team, there's certainly something we should have done and didn't. For us, tomorrow is just being ready to battle. We beat a good South Carolina team in under two and a half hours. We can't hope to do that tomorrow. We've got to be mentally ready to play tomorrow if that's the case.”
Diana Srebrovic, Sophomore
“Our main focus was just to go out there and play our game. No matter who we played, we are focusing on just playing our best tennis.”
Whitney Benik, Sophomore
“We've made a lot of improvement in doubles. Alexis and I need to focus on our return game. If we focus on returning, that improves our whole game.”
South Carolina
Head Coach Arlo Elkins
“It wasn't just today that I was proud of our effort. We've had two and three girls out of the lineup all year I think it's really tough in this heat to play back-to-back matches. Teams with a bye in the first round certainly have an advantage, but that's no excuse – Florida played very well. When things start rolling against you and you're tired, it's really hard to fight back. You have to give Florida a lot of credit – they gave us a lesson.”
Gira Schofield, Freshman
“I'm proud of the way our team played today. Florida's a really good team. Our team came back yesterday after losing the doubles point and we played well to get to today. I actually enjoyed playing in the heat. I'm from south Florida and I grew up playing in this kind of weather, so I absolutely loved it.”
END OF REPORT
