Florida Gators
#15 Florida State
No. 9 W-Tennis Blanks No. 15 Florida State, 7-0
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 | Women's Tennis
In a mid-week showdown, the No. 9 University of Florida women's tennis team scored a 7-0 victory over in-state rival Florida State, the nation's 15th-ranked team, under the lights at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The win boosted the Gators' record to 8-2 on the season and 50-1 all-time against the Seminoles, including 31-0 at home. Florida has also posted 73 consecutive overall home wins, including 13 wins in postseason play. UF's regular-season home winning streak now stands at 84, the longest of its kind in program history.
The Gators got off to a fast start on the doubles courts with the third-ranked pair of Marrit Boonstra (Groningen, The Netherlands) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) cruising to an 8-2 victory over Frederica Suess and Katie Rybakova in the No. 1 position, a match that lasted 42 minutes.
Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Anastasia Revzina (Moscow, Russia) locked down the doubles point for the Gators on the second court, downing Amy Sargeant and Francesca Segarielli by an 8-6 count. Claire Bartlett (Chattanooga, Tenn.) and Carolina Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) completed the doubles sweep for UF with an 8-7 (5) victory at No. 3 over Jessica Sucupira and Lauren McCreless.
“We played very well at No. 1 doubles, but at No. 2 we weren't moving or communicating,” said UF head coach Roland Thornqvist. “We finally did in the last two games. In doubles, it's hard to continue momentum if you don't communicate. Once we did that, we were able to get it turned around at No. 2.”
“We got off to a slow start,” Embree agreed. “But the key was communicating, playing more aggressively and playing together.”
Hitimana got the Gators rolling in singles play, notching a 6-0, 6-3 court five win over Suess in under an hour to put UF up, 2-0. Embree then set the table for the UF with a 6-2, 6-1 victory at the No. 1 position over McCreless.
The clincher then came from Boonstra on court three. After falling behind, 4-1, in the first set, Boonstra rebounded to win the set, 7-5, and breezed to a 6-1 second set to seal the match for Florida.
With the outcome already in hand for Florida, Will and Rybakova played a tiebreaker for the third set at No. 2 singles, during which Will handily outlasted Rybakova, 10-2, after picking up the first six points of the tiebreaker. Moments later, Bartlett ended her straight-sets victory over Sucupura to put UF up, 6-0.
The No. 4 singles court went the distance, playing the full three sets, and was the final court to wrap. The first five games of the third set went on serve with Revzina up, 3-2, and serve was broken in each of the final five games as Revzina captured a 6-4 win in the deciding set.
The Gators put their home winning streaks on the line again on Sunday at 4 p.m., when they host the defending national champion Duke Blue Devils, who are currently ranked No. 6.
“They're the defending national champions and have good players one through six,” Thornqvist said. “Duke is a great opponent for us. We'll have to focus on playing good tennis and not make it too big a deal. It's one match. We just want to continue the trend of getting better every match.”
Women's College Tennis
No. 15 Florida State at No. 9 Florida
Linder Stadium at Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010
Final Score: Florida 7, Florida State 0
Doubles
No. 1 (3) Marrit Boonstra/Allie Will (UF) d. Frederica Suess/Katie Rybakova (FSU), 8-2
No. 2 Lauren Embree/Anastasia Revzina (UF) d. Amy Sargeant/Francesca Segarelli (FSU), 8-6*
No. 3 Claire Bartlett/Caroline Hitimana (UF) d. Jessica Sucupira/Lauren McCreless (FSU), 8-7 (5)
Singles
No. 1 (22) Lauren Embree (UF) d. (44) Lauren McCreless (FSU), 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 (10) Allie Will (UF) vs. (64) Katie Rybakova (FSU), 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (10-2)
No. 3 (80) Marrit Boonstra (UF) d. Francesca Segarelli (FSU), 7-5, 6-1
No. 4 (95) Anastasia Revzina (UF) vs. Amy Sargeant (FSU), 2-6, 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 (86) Caroline Hitimana (UF) d. Frederica Suess (FSU), 6-0, 6-3
No. 6 Claire Bartlett (UF) vs. Jessica Sucupira (FSU), 6-2, 6-3
*Clinching doubles point/dual match win
Order of Finish: Doubles - 1, 2*, 3; Singles – 5, 1, 3*, 2, 6, 4
-UF-
