Florida Gators
#10 Virginia - National Indoors QF
Gators Get Another Gritty Win to Advance to National Indoors Semifinals
Sunday, February 8, 2015 | Women's Tennis
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 2-seeded, No. 2-ranked Florida Gator women's tennis team secured a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship semifinals with a grueling takedown of the No. 10-ranked, No. 7 seed and host team, the University of Virginia, 4-1, Saturday afternoon at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Florida bounced back in doubles play after dropping the early point to Clemson in round one and swept the event against the Cavaliers to take a 1-0 lead. The Gators' No. 2 and No. 3 doubles duos, No. 17 Josie Kuhlman and Peggy Porter, and Belinda Woolcock and Spencer Liang, finished in set tiebreaks simultaneously to clinch the doubles tally.
Virginia played with a marked urgency in singles after dropping the doubles point and won first sets on five courts. Florida, however, proved once again that the young squad should never be counted out, and fired right back. Despite Maci Epstein of UVA's win over Florida's No. 40 Porter at No. 5, 6-3, 3-6, 6-2, the Cavaliers failed to reach the scoreboard the rest of the way.
In a nearly four-hour battle, the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 3 singles players each grinded out three-set victories for Florida to win the match. After falling behind in the first, No. 9 Kuhlman topped No. 42 Danielle Collins, 2-6, 6-2, 6-3, to make it a 2-1 match in favor of the Gators. Following her critical match-clinching performance versus Clemson, No. 43 Woolcock provided Florida with a 3-1 boost against Virginia with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Skylar Morton in the No. 4 slot. This time it was No. 11 junior Brianna Morgan who after dropping the first set and trailing in the second, made a complete match turnaround and pulled off a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win over No. 16 Stephanie Nauta to clinch the quarterfinal win.
In a showdown between the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, and coincidentally, the No. 2 and No. 3-ranked teams in the country, Florida will take on North Carolina on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 3:30 p.m. for a spot in the final match.
| 2015 University of Florida Women's Tennis | ||||||
| Boar's Head Sports Club | ||||||
| Charlottesville, Va. | ||||||
| Saturday, February 7, 2015 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | VIRGINIA | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| Brooke Austin (7) | Julia Elbaba (22) | |||||
| No. 1 - | Kourtney Keegan (7) | Stephanie Nauta (22) | UF | 7-6 (7-3) | ||
| Josie Kuhlman (17) | Skylar Morton (11) | |||||
| No. 2 - | Peggy Porter (17) | Cassie Mercer (11) | UF | 6-4 | ||
| Belinda Woolcock | Danielle Collins | |||||
| No. 3 - | Spencer Liang | Maci Epstein | *UF | 7-6 (8-6) | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | VIRGINIA | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| No. 1 - | Brooke Austin (6) | Julia Elbaba (1) | DNF | 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 1-3, unf. | ||
| No. 2 - | Josie Kuhlman (9) | Danielle Collins (42) | UF | 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 | ||
| No. 3 - | Brianna Morgan (11) | Stephanie Nauta (16) | *UF | 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 | ||
| No. 4 - | Belinda Woolcock (43) | Skylar Morton | UF | 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 | ||
| No. 5 - | Peggy Porter (40) | Maci Epstein | UVA | 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 | ||
| No. 6 - | Kourtney Keegan (26) | Cassie Mercer | DNF | 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 0-0, unf. | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida – 4 | Virginia – 1 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 5-0 | Virginia 5-2 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 2, 3, 1 | Singles: 5, 2, 4, 3 | ||||
Quotes from the Match
Thornqvist's Thoughts – Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On the deceiving 4-1 score in such a close match…
It was a high level of tennis. I was particularly pleased with how we started the match because we did not play well in doubles yesterday, but it was completely different today. I thought we had great energy and great courage, which is what ultimately won us the doubles point.
In singles, Virginia was on fire early. We didn't play badly, they just crushed us in the beginning. [Head coach] Mark [Guilbeau] had them fired up after losing the doubles point. We always talk about the Florida way is the longer it goes, the stronger we get. I thought that was exactly what happened today. We were able to turn that initial Virginia momentum on most courts. I thought our players showed tremendous resiliency.
On the example set for other players with No. 2 and No. 3 singles winning five straight games after trailing…
It's tremendous. It helps all over the place. In the huddle after the match, the players down here mentioned that they heard these guys and vice versa. You don't have to look up on the scoreboard, you can sense the momentum switching. To our player's credit, they really did a good job of when they were feeling it, they were playing with it.
On Brianna Morgan's match-clinching performance at No. 3 singles…
[Stephanie] Nauta is a tough out. We've been wanting Bri [Brianna Morgan] to be more physical in her play because she's so fast and strong. Sometimes she takes that out of her game if she makes too many errors. From about midway of the second set all the way to the end, she really found her legs, made a ton of balls and used both corners. I told her it has to be a nightmare to play against you because how do you win the points. You can't get the ball by her because she's so fast. That was high level at the end of the match. It was fantastic to see.
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