Florida Gators
NCAA Doubles (Rnd of 16)
UF Women?s Tennis Tandem Falls in NCAA Round of 16
Saturday, May 27, 2006 | Women's Tennis
The Gator tandem of Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon lost their Round of 16 match Friday evening at the NCAA Women's Doubles Championships at Taube Tennis Center.
Benik and Gordon, ranked No. 24 in the nation, dropped a close 6-2, 6-4 decision to UCLA's 12th-ranked Laura Gordon and Riza Zalameda, and ended their season with a 16-8 record.
Florida had multiple opportunities throughout the match, but never seemed able to capitalize. The Gator pair lost their serve twice in the opening set, but had a game point in both. Florida took the early lead in the second, breaking Zalameda at love in the fourth game and Benik followed by holding at love to give the Gators a 4-1 lead and seemingly the momentum. Laura Gordon then held for the Bruins and Alexis Gordon went to the line for Gators, but despite two game points, could hold and UCLA evened the set after Zalameda's service game. Benik again started with a strong service game, toeing the line with a 40-15 lead in the ninth game, but the Bruins won four straight points to take the break and stave off one break in the 10th game to close out the match.
“We had our chances in the second set, I don't know exactly how many ad-points we had to go up 5-2, but it just didn't happen for us today,” Benik said. “They are definitely a good doubles team and we have to take advantage of chances when they're in front of us.”
Associate head coach Dave Balogh agreed with Benik's assessment. “We started off way too slow and tentative, but we had at least a dozen chances to force a third set but we just couldn't capitalize. The positive was that when UCLA came back to even the second at 4-all, we stayed aggressive and that's all we can ask for. Unfortunately, that's the way it goes sometimes. In a match like this you can't make too many mistakes and expect to win.”
“We played well at the beginning, but just fell apart later,” Gordon said. “It was really windy and we didn't play well in it. None of the breaks went our way.”
Gordon ends her collegiate career with a 129-23 singles record and a 94-36 doubles mark. Her combined 123 victories ranks as the sixth most in Gator history, while her singles win total is tied for eighth all-time in the UF record book.
NCAA Tennis Singles & Doubles Championships
Taube Tennis Center
Stanford, Calif.
Friday, May 26, 2006
UF Results Only
Doubles Second Round (Round of 16)
Laura Gordon/Riza Zalameda, UCLA def. Whitney Benik/Alexis Gordon, UF 6-2, 6-4
END OF REPORT
