Florida Gators
#34 Florida State
Gators Down Seminoles in 4-3 Sunshine Showdown Win
Thursday, February 19, 2015 | Women's Tennis
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Florida tennis claimed its second Share a Little Sunshine Showdown title of the season as the No. 2 Florida Gator women's team topped No. 34 Florida State, 4-3, on Wednesday evening at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center. Between the men's and women's tennis programs, Florida is a perfect 2-0 against Florida State in 2015.
Head coach Roland Thornqvist lauded the Gators' doubles play at ITA National Team Indoors, and Florida backed him up with another positive showing in the tandem event with a strong start against the Seminoles. No. 4 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan defeated Daneika Borthwick and Emily Fanning, 8-2, while Spencer Liang and Belinda Woolcock pulled away from Yukako Noi and Daniela Schippers to notch an 8-3 win and claim the doubles point for Florida.
Florida State attempted a rally in the singles event, taking three of the first four completed singles matches at No. 6, No. 2 and No. 3 to lift the Seminoles to a brief 3-2 lead. Florida freshman No. 6-ranked Austin remains undefeated in dual match singles this season following her straight-set victory over No. 81 Daneika Borthwick, 6-3, 6-3, which earned the Gators their first singles point of the match.
Freshman No. 91-ranked Peggy Porter kept Florida in the match with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Emily Fanning in the No. 5 slot to tie things up at three-all. Sophomore No. 44 Keegan fell behind in her match versus Gabriella Castaneda when she dropped the first set, 4-6, but forced the match into three and took the final two sets, 6-3, 7-5, respectively, to clinch the win for the Gators.
Florida will have a quick turnaround when they return home, as they are scheduled to host two top-20 teams this weekend: No. 16 Duke on Friday, Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. and No. 10 Stanford on Sunday, Feb. 22 at noon.
| 2015 University of Florida Women's Tennis | ||||||
| Scott Speicher Tennis Center | ||||||
| Tallahassee, Fla. | ||||||
| Wednesday, February 18, 2015 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | FSU | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| Brooke Austin (4) | Daneika Borthwick | |||||
| No. 1 - | Kourtney Keegan (4) | Emily Fanning | UF | 8-2 | ||
| Josie Kuhlman (9) | Kerrie Cartwright | |||||
| No. 2 - | Peggy Porter (9) | Gabriella Castaneda | DNF | 6-3, DNF | ||
| Spencer Liang | Yukako Noi | |||||
| No. 3 - | Belinda Woolcock | Daniela Schippers | UF* | 8-3 | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | FSU | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| No. 1 - | Brooke Austin (6) | Daneika Borthwick (81) | UF | 6-3, 6-3 | ||
| No. 2 - | Josie Kuhlman (3) | Kerrie Cartwright | FSU | 6-2, 6-3 | ||
| No. 3 - | Brianna Morgan (13) | Yukako Noi | FSU | 7-5, 6-4 | ||
| No. 4 - | Kourtney Keegan (44) | Gabriella Castaneda | UF* | 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 | ||
| No. 5 - | Peggy Porter (91) | Emily Fanning | UF | 7-5, 7-5 | ||
| No. 6 - | Stefani Stojic | Daniela Schippers | FSU | 6-2, 6-2 | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida – 4 | FSU – 3 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 6-1 | FSU 3-2 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 1, 3* | Singles: 6, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4* | ||||
| Attendance: 221 | ||||||
Quotes from the Match
Thornqvist's Thoughts – Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On the keys to defeating Florida State…
We played outstanding doubles once again. We were aggressive on all three courts and really executed everything we've been working on in practice. You definitely have to give Florida State credit. They really took it to us in singles. We are still a little up and down in our performances in singles and I'm hoping the longer the year goes the steadier our team will become in that regard.
Peggy [Porter] got us within striking distance and then Kourtney [Keegan] showed great poise in the third set to get us over the hump. The crowd was great for Florida State and they certainly have a fantastic team.
We really had to play well at the end to get out of this one and we're looking forward to heading back to Gainesville with two home matches this weekend.
Leading the Rivalry
With today's win, Florida improved to 55-1 all-time against Florida State.
Sunshine State Win Streak
UF earned its 200th victory against a fellow Sunshine State opponent with the 4-3 victory over FSU. The Gators have now won their last 22 consecutive matches versus a program from the state of Florida.
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