Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During the preseason, Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist stated that the 2017 Gators have the most talented doubles teams from top to bottom in his 16 years at the helm of the program.
 
The Gators backed up their coach's claim during Saturday's 6-1 season-opening victory against DePaul, as Florida needed a mere 26 minutes to capture a pair of doubles wins and claim the first dual match point of the season held at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
 
The veteran pair of Josie Kulhman and Belinda Woolcock earned the first victory of the day, a 6-0 shutout against Marina Cozac and Patricia Lancranjan.
 
Next came the doubles clincher on court two, where Anna Danilina and freshman Ingrid Neel teamed for the 6-2 win.
 
It was on to singles action following the quick work in doubles and the Gators stood up to their preseason No. 1 ranking, as Florida won the first three matches in 72 minutes to secure its first dual match decision of the year.
 
Danilina led the way on court No. 3, where she double-bageled Patricia Lancranjan, 6-0, 6-0.
 
Peggy Porter was next off the court with a 6-4, 6-4 win, followed closely by Neel, who provided the clinching win, 6-3, 6-2, at the No. 2 position.
 
Belinda Woolcock battled past No. 87 Yuliya Shupenia, 6-2, 6-3, on the showcase court before Spencer Liang earned the hard-fought thriller on court No. 5, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.
 
What's Next for the Gators:
Saturday's match was the first round of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and Florida advanced to Sunday's championship against FIU beginning at 2 p.m. The Panthers defeated South Florida 4-0 on Saturday. DePaul and USF will meet at noon.
 
The winner of the Gainesville regional earns a berth in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships held February 10-13 in New Haven, Conn.
 
Numbers of Note:

• This was the first-ever meeting between Florida and DePaul.
• Today's win was the 999th in program history.
• Senior Belinda Woolcock played the No. 1 singles position for the second time in her career, the other time was last season.
• Junior Anna Danilina played a career-high No. 3 in the singles lineup.

 
Postmatch Thoughts from UF Head Coach Roland Thornqvist:
On doubles play:
"It was very, very efficient and powerful doubles. What we've seen in practice was exactly what showed up today in doubles. We did not give those teams any chance to breath. We had a high first-serve percentage on all three courts. We were the first to move on all three courts. In general, our pace of play was terrific on all three courts."
 
On the play of Anna Danilina:
"Anna was very impressive. She was very powerful and had very few unforced errors. The way she's been looking in practice and in play, it looks like we're going to have to consider moving her up considerably in the lineup."
 
On senior Belinda Woocock playing the No. 1 singles position:
"Belinda (Woolcock) did a great job play on center stage. She played their best player. She had a couple of spells where she had some unforced errors, but it was never at a point where it brought the whole match at risk. I was really proud to see how she handled playing on center stage. She was very clinical. She used her heavy-roll forehand that we've been working on for over a year and she's really developing a confidence in how that sort of tennis has a cumulative effect for her. You could see that today, that she was able to break down her opponent over the long term by using heavy-roll forehands to both corners."
 
Final Thoughts on the Match:
"We had a good opening round and I think we'll be even better tomorrow. We'll have Kourtney (Keegan) and Josie (Kuhlman) in the lineup tomorrow and it will be good to see how they respond to their first dual matches of the year."
 
"In general, I feel really good about this year's team. We're playing hard and we're playing for each other and that's just really nice to see."
 

Gator Pronunciations

• Anna Danilina: ON-nah don-uh-LEE-nah
• Josie Kuhlman: COOL-mun
• Spencer Liang: LEE-aang

 
 
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