Florida Gators
#15 Tennessee
No. 23 W-Tennis Earns 5-2 Win over No. 15 Tennessee
Sunday, March 15, 2009 | Women's Tennis
The 23rd-ranked University of Florida women's tennis team netted its second upset victory in 72 hours, downing No. 15 Tennessee on a hot Sunday afternoon at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The victory comes less than two days after the Gators (9-5, 3-1 SEC) upended No. 2 Georgia, 4-3, as Florida emerged from the challenging weekend able to extend its regular-season home winning streak to 72 and improve to 143-1 all-time at home against Southeastern Conference teams.
The Gators also remained perfect in the series against the Lady Vols, holding a 33-0 mark.
Like it was able to do against Georgia, Florida handed Tennessee (9-2, 3-1 SEC) its first conference loss of the season and created an early log jam at the top of the league's Eastern Division standings as not one undefeated team remains.
On Sunday, Florida halted Tennessee's run of six consecutive matches winning the doubles point, as the Gators captured victories on the No. 1 and No. 2 courts. Florida then followed with hard-fought singles wins at the top four positions en route to the victory. Each of the last three singles matches on court needed more than two hours to complete, with the decision on court No. 1 taking two hours and 44 minutes.
“Tennessee is a team that is not going to go away, so if you don't close them out they are going to hang around and hang around. You have to be mentally tough at the end of a match,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We pride ourselves about how we handle ourselves at the end of sets and at the end of a match and we had some spectacular results there today.”
Freshman Jessica Alexander (Dallas, Texas) earned the first singles win for the Gators, topping Rosalia Alda, 7-5, 6-2. The Gator rookie jumped out to a 4-1 lead behind two breaks, but needed a late break in the 11th game to be able to serve for the opening frame, which she capped with an ace. Alexander began the second similar to the first, as she raced out to a 4-1 lead, only this time she held throughout to earn the victory and give the Gators a 2-1 lead in the team scoring.
Shortly after Alexander's win, junior Anastasia Revzina (Russia) came through with a big victory, as she took down Natalie Pluskota, 6-4, 6-1 on court No. 2 to place Florida one victory from the dual match win. The first set featured seven service breaks, including each of the last five games, as Revzina held on to earn the final on of the frame and then held to take a 1-0 lead to start the second. She broke Pluskota's first service game in the second and road that until the sixth game, which featured almost a dozen duce scores before the Gator junior took the hard-fought game and served out for the victory.
“(Pluskota's) just a freshman and she was really good and competitive,” Revzina said. “The heat might have helped a little in our favor because we practice every day in it and we're a little more used to it. Today, the match was tough in the beginning and she was playing good. I'm just happy with my performance and that I could get a point for the team.”
It took over 30 more minutes for the fourth singles match would end, as UF's Barbara Pinterova (Slovakia) came up just short against Jennifer Meredith, who took the 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 decision in two hours and seven minutes and tightened the team score at 3-2.
Almost 30 more minutes later, Florida freshman Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) provided the clinching match, as she rallied for an impressive 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1 victory over Samantha Orlin on court No. 3.
The match began with a pair of breaks and there wasn't another one in the set, as a tiebreaker was needed to determine the initial frame. Orlin held to begin the second, as Mather regrouped and was able to break Orlin's next serve at love to take a 3-1 lead. The Vols then held and broke Mather, who broke right back and held to even the set at 4-all. The Gator rookie came through again with another break and served out to force a deciding third set, which she opened with a break. Mather earned her second break of the third in the fifth game, taking Orlin's serve at love. Mather fought off one break point in the next game and held serve for a 5-1 lead. She then jumped on Orlin's serve by winning the first three points, capitalizing on her second match-point to clinch the dual match victory for the Gators.
“I really tried to get my head together because I got really nervous in the first set,” Mather shared. “I started missing a lot of balls. I was able to calm down a lot, Dave (Balogh, Associate Head Coach) helped out tremendously. In the third set, I was much more calm and played much better as a result. I love the crowd, it was great again today. We all feed off them.”
Junior Marrit Boonstra (The Netherlands) was a bit under the weather at the start of the match, but gutted out the final decision of the afternoon, coming through with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 over Caitlin Whorishkey on the showcase court in two hours and 44 minutes. Down a break late in the first, Boonstra broke Whorishkey in the 10th game at love to even the score at 5-all, but couldn't hold her own as the Lady Vol broke back and served out for the first set. Boonstra came back with an impressive second set, racing out to a 5-1 lead, eventually serving out a love to force a third set. Boonstra earned a break in the third game and held for a 3-1 lead. The Gator junior then broke Whorishkey in an extremely long fifth game that seemed to shift the momentum in Boonstra's favor, as she held her final two serves to collect her 13th consecutive victory.
“I wasn't feeling 100 percent today, but after the first set, I started checking the scores of my teammates and knew I had to win for the team,” Boonstra said. “I found a way to get it done. I'm so proud of our team for how we played this weekend.”
“Marrit wasn't feeling well today and had to rely on heart and she got it done against a very good opponent,” Thornqvist praised. “All three freshmen did a fabulous job. We have a little break now before our new competition so we wanted to expend every ounce of energy and passion that we had this weekend.”
Florida has a bye-week and doesn't return to competition until March 27, when the team travels to Oxford, Miss., to play the Ole Miss Lady Rebels.
Women's College Tennis
No. 15 Tennessee at No. 23 Florida
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex * Gainesville, Fla.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Final Score: Florida 5, Tennessee 2
Doubles
1. (69) Jessica Alexander/Anastasia Revzina, UF d. Natalie Pulskota/Caitlin Whorishey, UT 8-6*
2. Marrit Boonstra/Joanna Mather, UF d. Samantha Orlin/Maria Sorbello, UT 8-1
3. Rosalia Alda/Zsofia Zubor, UT d. Barbara Pinterova/Lauren Wolken, UT 8-1
Singles
1. (8) Marrit Boonstra, UF d. (57) Caitlin Whorishkey, UT 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
2. (48) Anastasia Revzina, UF d. Natalie Pluskota, UT 6-4, 6-1
3. Joanna Mather, UF d. Samantha Orlin, UT 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-1*
4. Jessica Alexander, UF d. Rosalia Alda, UT 7-5, 6-2
5. Jennifer Meredith, UT d. Barbara Pinterova, UF 3-6, 6-1, 6-3
6. Zsofia Zubor, UT d. Lauren Wolken, UF 6-1, 6-0
Order of Finish: Doubles-2, 3, 1*; Singles-6, 4, 2, 5, 3*, 1
*indicates clinching doubles point/dual match point
-UF-
