Florida Gators
Kentucky
Women?s Tennis Defeats Kentucky to Claim Share of SEC Title
Sunday, April 9, 2006 | Women's Tennis
The University of Florida women's tennis team overwhelmed Kentucky (15-7, 8-2 SEC) on the singles courts en route to a 6-1 victory and claim at least a share of the Southeastern Conference regular season and Eastern Division titles.
The Gators (17-1, 10-0 SEC) travel to Columbia, S.C., to face South Carolina on Saturday, April 15 in the regular season finale for the chance to win the league championship outright. This is Florida's 21st SEC title in the 27-year history of conference play.
Sunday's match, however, didn't get off to the start the Gators were looking for, getting swept and losing the doubles point for the second straight match. UF head coach Roland Thornqvist addressed the team between the doubles and singles competition and the Gators looked like a team on a mission during singles action.
“We played singles like a team wanting to win an SEC title,” Thornqvist said. “There were some positives and negatives from the weekend, but the biggest positive was the way we responded in both matches after losing the doubles point. I was really proud of them. That's how you face adversity. I challenged them in the locker room after doubles. All of them really responded, setting the tone early and staying focused in singles. That's how you win a championship.”
Gator junior Nina Suvak evened the team score early, capturing the No. 4 singles court with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Danielle Petrisko. The two competitors traded breaks to begin the match before Suvak ripped off the final 11 games to win her 12th consecutive singles match.
Two minutes later, sophomore Alex Liles gave the Gators a 2-1 lead in the team scoring with her 6-2, 6-0 decision over Carolina Escamilla at the No. 5 spot. Liles broke Escamilla to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set and broke again in the eighth game to take the first set and never looked back en route to her sixth consecutive singles win and improve her singles record to 11-1 this season.
Sophomore Whitney Benik moved Florida one victory from the dual match win after she topped Joelle Schwenk 6-0, 6-3 on court No. 3. Benik zipped through the first set in 23 minutes before Schwenk finally got on the board by holding her serve to start the second. She then broke, before Benik struck back with a break of her own and then staved off three break points in the next game to hold and even the set at 2-all. Benik carried that momentum into the next game, losing just one point while earning another break en route to the straight set win that gave the Gators a 3-1 lead.
Diana Srebrovic provided the clinching dual match victory, topping Lara Maurer 6-2, 6-1 at the No. 2 position in one hour and nine minutes. Srebrovic opened with a break and never looked back to take the opening set. She held serve to start the second and earned a break on Maurer's first service game in the second, as Srebrovic held throughout the match to capture the win.
Senior Alexis Gordon won the big points on court No. 1 against Kim Coventry, earning the 6-4, 6-2 victory. Gordon began the match breaking Coventry in the only break of the first set, as the Gator lefty held on to win the first frame. Gordon struck again with a break in the third game of the second set to take the early lead. She then held and broke again, zipping a forehand cross court off a service return for the two-break lead, which was too much for Coventry to overcome as Gordon collected UF's third singles win of the day.
“We work so hard every day in practice to win championships, so we expect to play like we did today in singles,” Gordon said. “It's exciting to win the SEC championship. It's something we knew we could do.”
This was Gordon's and fellow senior Boglarka Berecz's final home regular season match of their career, but not the last time Berecz and Gordon will compete on their home courts, as UF plays host the SEC Tournament, April 20-23.
Freshman Keri Robison capped the singles sweep with her 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Jessica Giuggioli on court No. 6. Robison jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the final set before Giuggioli held to get on the board in the last frame. Robison then overcame a 0-40 deficit on her serve to take a 5-1 lead, as she later served out for the win.
Women's College Tennis
No. 22 Kentucky at No. 3 Florida
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Sunday, April 09, 2006
Final Score: Florida 6, Kentucky 1
Doubles
No. 1 Kim Coventry/Carolina Escamilla, UK def. Whitney Benik/Alexis Gordon (28), UF 8-4
No. 2 Lara Maurer/Joelle Schwenk, UK def. Lolita Frangulyan/Diana Srebrovic (36), UF 8-5
No. 3 Danielle Petrisko/Caroline Winebrenner, UK def. Keri Robison/Nina Suvak (53), UF 8-6
Singles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon (22), UF def. Kim Coventry (47), UK 6-4, 6-2
No. 2 Diana Srebrovic (3), UF def. Lara Maurer, UK 6-1, 6-1*
No. 3 Whitney Benik, UF def. Joelle Schwenk, UK 6-0, 6-3
No. 4 Nina Suvak, UF def. Danielle Petrisko, UK 6-1, 6-0
No. 5 Alex Liles, UF def. Carolina Escamilla, UK 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 Keri Robison, UF def. Jessica Giuggioli, UK 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
Order of Finish: Doubles-1, 2, 3; Singles-4, 5, 3, 2, 1, 6
Match Notes:
*UF clinches at least a share of the SEC overall and Eastern Division titles with today's win
*UF now leads the all-times series versus Kentucky, 30-1
*UF improves to 131-1 all-time at home versus the SEC
*The Gators have won 11 consecutive matches, while the Wildcats had their seven-match win streak snapped
*UF's 41st consecutive regular season home win
*UF loses doubles point for second straight match and fourth time this season
*Second time this year UF is swept in doubles
*UF's Nina Suvak wins her 12th straight singles match
*UF doubles team of Frangulyan & Srebrovic has 13-match win streak snapped.
END OF REPORT
