Florida Gators
UCLA (NCAA Round of 16)
W-Tennis Defeats UCLA in 4-3 Thriller to Advance to NCAA Quarterfinals
Friday, May 19, 2006 | Women's Tennis
The fourth-seeded University of Florida women's tennis team defeated UCLA in a thrilling 4-3 decision in the NCAA Championships Round of 16 Thursday afternoon at the Taube Tennis Center.
The Gators (24-1) advanced to Friday evening's quarterfinal match where they play No. 5 Baylor (28-3) beginning at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT). The Bears, who defeated No. 12 Vanderbilt 4-2 in its round of 16 contest, are making their first-ever quarterfinals appearance while Florida will be playing in the NCAA quarterfinals for the 21st time in the 25-year history of the event.
With Florida holding a slight 3-2 lead in the team scoring, the remaining two singles matches each were deep in the third set. With the final point on both courts being played at the exact same time, the match at the No. 3 position went in favor of the Bruins (15-7), seconds before sophomore Alex Liles provided the clinching victory for Florida with her 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 decision over Elizabeth Lumpkin.
“The match this evening was one of the best college matches I have been a part of,” said UF head coach Roland Thornqvist, who won his 199th career match and his 124th with the Gators. “The flow of this type of close match is really, really draining mentally, but I thought our players handled it well. The UCLA team is very tough. They outplayed us in doubles and battled on every court. I'm just really pleased with the way we responded to this challenge.”
After dropping the doubles point, Diana Srebrovic evened the team scoring with her 6-3, 7-6 (5) victory over Riza Zalameda on court No. 2. Boglarka Berecz then downed Alex McGoodwin 6-2, 6-2 at the No. 4 spot to give the Gators a 2-1 lead. Alexis Gordon capped a hard-fought match against Laura Gordon 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 at the No. 1 position, placing Florida one victory away from the dual match win. Nina Suvak dropped a tough 7-6 (3), 6-3 decision to Ashley Joelson, leaving the Whitney Benik and Alex Liles on court to provide the final scoring.
Liles cruised in her first set against Lumpik, who jumped out to quick 5-1 lead in the second before Liles rallied to win four straight games to even the set. Liles, however, couldn't hold in the 11th game and Lumpik served out to force a deciding third, where she broke Liles to start the set. Five of the first six games in the final set were breaks, before Liles served a love game to take a 5-2 lead. The last two games were on-serve, as Liles fought off one break point in the ninth game before earning the clinching victory.
“I had no idea the match came down to my court,” said Liles, who won her eight straight singles match. “Even though I lost the second set, I really felt like I had the momentum going into the third. I was really fired up and ready to go. I started stepping up and moving the ball around more.”
Berecz appeared in control of her No. 4 singles match, earning the straight set victory to give UF a 2-1 lead. The Gator senior did not lose her serve during the match, as she earned breaks in the third and seventh games in the second set during to take the win.
“Everything seemed to come together for me at the right time today,” Berecz said. “She started missing a lot from her forehand and it helped me. Overall, it was a good match, but it was just great to get the team win. Everyone one of us just kept fighting.”
UF's Alexis Gordon battled past UCLA's Laura Gordon on the featured court. The Bruin broke the Gator to take a 5-4 lead in the third set, but couldn't close out the match, double-faulting on break-point as Alexis lost just three points in the final three games to earn the victory in front of a rowdy Bruin contingency in the stands.
“Toward the end of the match, I just told myself that I could either step it and win, or lose and go home,” said Alexis Gordon, who posted her 11th straight singles victory. “I just fought it out.”
Florida had its chances to win the doubles point, but couldn't capitalize, as the Gators dropped the initial team point for the fifth time this season. The clinching match was on court No. 2, where Lolita Frangulyan and Diana Srebrovic seemed to have the momentum after Srebrovic held at love to even the match at 5-all. The Gator pair then broke in the next game and Frangulyan held to give the tandem a 7-5 lead. But Elizabeth Lumpkin and Alex McGoodwin dug deep and rallied to win three straight games and eventually force a tiebreak were they cruised 7-0.
UF's No. 3 pair of Keri Robison and Nina Suvak took the first victory of the match with their solid 8-5 win against Ashley Joelson and Tracy Lin. Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon then fell at the No. 1 position, 8-6, to set the stage for the No. 2 team.
NCAA Women's Tennis Championships
Team Round of 16
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Complete Team Results – Round of 16
No. 1 Stanford def. No. 16 TCU 4-0
No. 8 Duke def. No. 9 North Carolina 4-1
No. 4 Florida def. UCLA 4-3
No. 5 Baylor def. No. 12 Vanderbilt 4-2
No. 11 Northwestern def. No. 6 Georgia Tech 4-0
No. 3 Southern California def. No. 14 VCU 4-1
No. 7 Miami def. Fresno State 4-2
No. 2 Notre Dame def. Kentucky 4-0
Individual UF Results
Final Score: Florida 4, UCLA 3
Doubles
No. 1 Laura Gordon/Riza Zalamdea (12), UCLA def. Whitney Benik/Alexis Gordon (24), UF 8-6
No. 2 Elizabeth Lumpkin/Alex McGoodwin (47), UCLA def. Lolita Frangulyan/Diana Srebrovic, UF 9-8 (0)*
No. 3 Keri Robison/Nina Suvak, UF def. Ashley Joelson/Tracy Lin, UCLA 8-5
Singles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon (14), UF def. Laura Gordon (21), UCLA 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
No. 2 Diana Srebrovic (9), UF def. Riza Zalameda (54), UCLA 6-3, 7-6 (5)
No. 3 Tracy Lin (46), UCLA def. Whitney Benik, UF 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5
No. 4 Boglarka Berecz (50), UF def. Alex McGoodwin (56) 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Ashley Joelson (94), UCLA def. Nina Suvak, UF 7-6 (3), 6-3
No. 6 Alex Liles, UF def. Elizabeth Lumpkin, UCLA 6-2, 5-7, 6-3*
*clinched doubles point/dual match
Order of Finish: Doubles 3, 1, 2; Singles 2, 4, 1, 5, 3, 6
Match Notes:
*This was the 750 win in the 34-year history of the Florida program.
*This was the fifth time this season Florida has lost the doubles point (last time was versus Kentucky on April 9)
*Florida extended its win streak to 18 straight.
*Florida improves to 12-6 all-time versus UCLA, including a 6-3 record in NCAA matches. Prior to Thursday's match, the last time the Gators and Bruins squared off was a 4-3 Florida win in the quarterfinals of the 2003 National Indoor Championships. The last NCAA meeting was in 1996, when the Gators topped the Bruins 5-1 in the semifinals en route to winning the NCAA title.
*Florida's lone meeting against Baylor was a 4-2 victory in the Round of 16 in last year's NCAA Championships.
*Alexis Gordon won her 11th consecutive singles matches
*Alex Liles won her eighth straight singles matches
*Nina Suvak had her 16 match singles win streak snapped
*Whitney Benik had her six-match singles win streak snapped
*Alexis Gordon's win was the 128th of her career, tying for ninth all-time at UF with Stephanie Nickitas, who totaled 128 wins from 1996-99.
*Roland Thornqvist collected his 199th career coaching victory in 10 years as a collegiate head coach.
END OF REPORT
