Women's Tennis Hosts UCF on Wednesday
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | Women's Tennis
The eighth-ranked University of Florida women's tennis team begins a busy week on Wednesday, when the squad plays host to UCF at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex beginning at 5 p.m. Admission to all regular-season home matches is free.
Wednesday's match is the first of three contests the Gators (1-0) will host in a five-day span.
Florida opened its 2009-10 campaign with a 7-0 sweep over North Texas, while UCF also won its season debut, 5-2, against Florida Gulf Coast.
The Gators sport a 7-0 series record against the Knights, with all of the matches being played in Gainesville.
Florida sports an overall program-record 67-match home win streak, including 13 wins in postseason play (SEC and NCAA Tournament). Florida also enters Wednesday's match having won 78 consecutive regular-season home matches - not including SEC Tournament or NCAA Championship events.
In Florida's season-opening victory, freshmen Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) played the No. 1 and No. 2 singles positions, respectively. Was only the third time in program history the Gators kicked off a dual match season with two true rookies at those spots.
Embree is ranked No. 15 nationally in singles, while Will came in at No. 13 after a terrific fall season when she compiled a team-best 20-3 singles record. They are two of five new faces on the court for the Gators this year.
Seniors Marrit Boonstra (The Netherlands) and Anastasia Revzina (Russia), ranked No. 81 and 92, respectively, picked up where they left off last season, leading the Gators with quick, straight-set singles victories in impressive fashion.
Stephanie Nickitas returns to Gainesville once again, but this time in her third year as the head coach at UCF. Nickitas not only played at Florida, but starred as a Gator from 1996-99. She was part of the 1996 & 1998 NCAA national championship squads and won the 1996 & 1997 NCAA Doubles Championships. She finished her career as a Gator with records of 128-22 in singles and 128-15 in doubles, with her combined 256 victories remaining as the third most in UF history. UCF Assistant Coach Tony Giannoni also is a UF graduate and enjoyed a short tenure in Gainesville working as a volunteer coach beginning in the summer of 2007 until he was hired by the Knights.
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