Florida Gators
#12 Vanderbilt - SEC Tournament Semifinal
Women's Tennis Advances to SEC Tournament Final with 4-2 Win Over Vanderbilt
Sunday, April 20, 2008 | Women's Tennis
In what has become one of the most intense and challenging battles on the tennis court, the University of Florida women's tennis team emerged with a hard-fought 4-2 victory over Vanderbilt in the semifinals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon at the Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center.
In another classic version of the rivalry, the top-seeded Gators (20-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after winning the doubles point and the No. 4 singles match, before the fourth-seeded Commodores (18-5) stormed back with victories on singles courts No. 1 and 3 to tie the team score a 2-all and neither club carrying the momentum on any of the remaining three courts.
Senior Lolita Frangulyan began to turn the dual match in favor of the Gators, as she fought off three sets points to rally for a 6-2, 7-5 straight-set win on court No. 6 that gave Florida a 3-2 lead.
Sophomore Csilla Borsanyi followed her lead and earned an important break in the ninth game of the second set at the No. 2 position and served out to clinch the 6-3, 6-4 decision in one hour and 49 minutes and send Florida to Sunday's championship final.
“We always have classic battles against Vanderbilt and today was very high-level tennis, I was really happy with the level of tennis,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “There were a lot of closely contested sets, but the level of tennis was outstanding. For us to hang in there despite Whitney Benik, who has been our best player this year, losing her match, should give us a lot of confidence in that we don't have to rely on the same players to win a match. Overall, I thought we were sharp in doubles and certainly very good in those singles matches that we won today.”
Florida will face second-seeded and eighth-ranked Georgia on Sunday for the SEC Tournament title beginning at 1 p.m. ET. The Bulldogs (19-4) defeated No. 3-seeded Arkansas in a 4-3 thriller in the morning's semifinal match.
Georgia is the defending SEC Tournament champion, snapping Florida's five-year run as the league's postseason champ with a 4-2 decision in 2007. The Gators have won 15 of the previous 20 SEC Tournaments contested, with 12 of those finals coming against the Bulldogs, who have four titles to their credit.
“All of our players came to Florida to win championships and to play for championships. Today's match was one of those moments why they are here and why they wanted to wear the Orange & Blue,” Thornqvist said. “They want to bring the trophy home, or at least put themselves in position to bring the trophy home. We knew we had a tough draw this week and that we were going to have to be at the top of our games in order to succeed. We were yesterday against Auburn and again today against Vanderbilt. We will need to be at our best on Sunday if we want to win the title.”
Florida, which earned its 17th consecutive dual-match victory, opened with a commanding performance on the doubles courts, where the Gators needed just 47 minutes to win a pair of matches and capture the initial team point of the competition.
Freshman Marrit Boonstra then polished off Courtney Ulery, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 4 singles spot to give UF a 2-0 lead. The match was on-serve through the first five games until the Gator rookie broke Ulery and held for the 5-2 lead. She then broke the Commodore to win the opening set in 23 minutes, as she carried that momentum into the second set, where she held to begin the second and broke Ulery at love and remained in control the rest of the way.
“I played a really good second set and felt like I couldn't make any mistakes at all,” Boonstra said. “This was probably my best match of the season.”
Almost 20 minutes later, Vanderbilt got on the board when Amanda Taylor took down Julia Cohen, 6-2, 6-0, at the No. 1 position. The Commodores followed with their second victory, as Taka Bertrand topped Whitney Benik, 6-3, 6-2, snapping the Gator senior's 15-match win streak and tying the dual match at 2-all one hour and 21 minutes into the start of singles play.
At that point, every game on the remaining three singles courts seemed to reach duce and the outcome was far from being predicted.
After winning the first set of her No. 6 singles match against Caroline Ferrell, Frangulyan lost her serve and found herself trailing 5-3 in the second. She fought off three set points and rallied to eventually get the set back on-serve with a break and holding in the 10th game. The Gator senior then capitalized on her second break-point in the 11th game and went to the baseline to serve for the match. After losing the first point, she won the next four to capture her 19th consecutive singles victory and give UF a 3-2 lead.
“I've played Caroline (Ferrell) many times over the last four years in college and this was the best she's ever played,” Frangulyan said. “She brought everything she had and it was very unexpected for me. I didn't think it would be as hard as it was today, but I give all the credit to her because she played so hard and played unbelievable. I really had to focus and fight for every point and give it my all. I definitely realize that these are my last few college matches and I want to give it everything I can.
Borsanyi's match against Catherine Newman was a classic baseline slugfest, as the Gator sophomore needed 59 minutes to win the first set, 6-3, using a break in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead and serving out for the early advantage. Newman held to being the second, and the next four games were breaks, as Borsanyi halted the trend by holding and evening the set at 3-all. The competitors then held again before Brosanyi seized the momentum with a break in the ninth game, losing just one point off Newman's serve, and served out for the 6-3, 6-4 win and clinch the dual match for the Gators.
“It was a very tough match, right from the beginning,” Borsanyi said. “I was very inspired because the last time I played her it lasted three hours and I lost. I just really wanted to win this time. I tried to stay focused on my match and not watch how my teammates were doing on other courts. I was able to stay focused. I tried to go to the net to break things up and am happy with how I played. Even from the beginning I had a feeling it might come down to my match. It's always a long, tough match against Vanderbilt, every court is equal, so I was ready for it.”
On the doubles court, Julia Cohen and Anastasia Revzina needed just 35 minutes to net their 17th consecutive win, as they downed Taka Bertrand and Keily Ulery, 8-3 at the No. 3 spot to provide the first victory of the match. The Gator duo, now a perfect 17-0, raced out to a quick 3-0 lead, capped by Cohen's love service game. Vandy held and then broke Revinza in the next game, but couldn't hold, as Florida broke back to maintain its lead and Cohen again held serve to take a 5-2 lead, before the Gators broke at love and extended their lead to 7-2 after Revzina held en route to the win when Cohen served out. Their 17-match win streak is tied for the fifth-longest in program history, matching the run also accomplished by Nicole Polasek and Shaun Stafford in 1986-87.
Florida also controlled the tempo on the No. 2 doubles court, where Whitney Benik and Csilla Borsanyi topped Caroline Ferrell and Catherine Newman, 8-4, in 47 minutes to secure the doubles point. Similar to the start at the No. 3 position, the Gators jumped out to a 3-0 lead thanks to a break in the middle game. Vanderbilt broke back in the fifth game, but held to get the match on-serve at 3-all. After Benik held to give UF a 4-3 lead, the Gators earned their second break of the match and Borsanyi did her part by holding, to stretch the lead to 6-3. UF felt the momentum as court No. 3 finished and Benik and Borsanyi broke the Commodores at love in the next game before Benik served out for the victory.
UF's No. 1 tandem of Megan Alexander and Marrit Boonstra was serving with a 7-5 lead in their match when play was abandoned.
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
City of Auburn/Auburn University Yarbrough Tennis Center
Auburn, Ala.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Team Semifinal Results
#2 Georgia d. #3 Arkansas, 4-3
#1 Florida d. #4 Vanderbilt, 4-2
Individual Results from UF's match
Final Score: Florida 4, Vanderbilt 2
Doubles
1. Megan Alexander/Marrit Boonstra (6), UF led Amanda Taylor/Courtney Ulery (29), VU 7-5 DNF
2. Whitney Benik/Csilla Borsanyi, UF d. Caroline Ferrell/Catherine Newman, VU 8-4*
3. Julia Cohen/Anastasia Revzina (50), UF d. Taka Bertrand/Keily Ulery, VU 8-3
Singles
1. Amanda Taylor (23), VU d. Julia Cohen (27), UF, 6-2, 6-0
2. Csilla Borsanyi (33), UF d. Catherine Newman (46), VU, 6-3, 6-4*
3. Taka Bertrand (118), VU d. Whitney Benik, UF, 6-3, 6-2
4. Marrit Boonstra, UF d. Courtney Ulery (62), VU, 6-2, 6-0
5. Anastasia Revzina (110), UF led Keily Ulery, VU, 6-7(3), 6-2, 3-1 DNF
6. Lolita Frangulyan, UF d. Caroline Ferrell, VU, 6-2, 7-5
Order of Finish: Doubles-3, 2*; Singles-4, 1, 3, 6, 2*
Records: Florida 20-1, Vanderbilt 18-5
Match Notes:
*This was UF's 17th consecutive dual-match victory.
*The Gators have not lost the doubles point this season.
*The doubles team of Julia Cohen & Anastasia Revzina improved to 17-0; it is tied for the fifth-longest streak in UF history.
*Saturday's victory was UF's 20th of the season, marking the 22nd consecutive year the Gators have won at least 20 matches in a year. Florida has posted a total of 25 20-win seasons in the 36-year history of the program.
* UF improved to 20-1 all-time in semifinal matches, with the lone time the Gators failed to reach the championship match coming in 2001.
*Florida improved to 36-2 all-time against Vanderbilt, including the 5-2 regular-season Gator win in Gainesville on February 29. Florida has won six consecutive matches against the Commodores, including wins in the 2005, 2007 and 2008 SEC Tournament semifinals.
MEDIA: SATELLITE FEED INFORMATION FOR SUNDAY
What: SEC Women's Tennis
Where: Auburn, AL
When: Sunday, April 20, 8:30 PM ET (2030 ET)
Coordinates: AMC 16, Transponder 21 (KU Band)
Uplink: 14420.0 [H]
Downlink: 12120.0 [V]
Facility: Satellite Truck
Trouble #: 678-654-7177, 678-654-7178
Producer: Dave Solanas (404-702-0977)
Shooter: Terry Allen (980-253-9075)
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