Familiar Foe Awaits No. 1 Gators in NCAA Sweet 16

Friday, May 19

Athens, GA

7 PM

Florida Gators

Texas A&M (NCAA Round of 16)

The Gators are 5-2 all-time against the Aggies, but Friday will be the first NCAA match-up between the two programs.

Familiar Foe Awaits No. 1 Gators in NCAA Sweet 16

Thursday, May 18, 2017 | Women's Tennis

UF Notes Packet Live Scoring & Video Tournament Website NCAA Women’s Team Draw

Top-seeded Florida will play 20th-ranked Texas A&M on Friday at 7 p.m. ET

By: Kathy Cafazzo

ATHENS, Ga. – With wins at home against Massachusetts (4-0) and Miami (4-1) in the opening rounds of the NCAA Championships, top-seeded Florida (25-3) has earned its spot in the round of 16 where it will play 20th-ranked Texas A&M (18-12) at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., on Friday, May 19 at 7 p.m. ET.

Super Sweet

This is the 34th time the Gators have reached the Sweet 16.
Florida is making its 13th consecutive appearance in the round of 16 – the second-longest active streak in the country.
The Gators sport a 29-4 all-time record in NCAA Round of 16 matches.
UF's last loss in the round of 16 was last season, when the Gators fell 4-3 to eventual champion Stanford.

Quick Glance at the teams in the NCAA Round of 16

Florida played 12 of the other 15 teams this season that advanced to the NCAA Round of 16, posting an 11-3 record versus those clubs.
The Gators did not play this year: Georgia Tech, California and Duke.
Florida is one of six schools from the Southeastern Conference competing in the NCAA Round of 16.

Gators vs. Aggies: The Series

The Gators are 5-2 all-time against the Aggies, but Friday will be the first NCAA match-up between the two programs.
The series began in 2013, when Texas A&M joined the SEC.
Last Meeting: UF defeated TAMU, 4-0, in a rain-delayed match, 4-0, in College Station, Texas on March 6, 2017.
Last Loss: UF's last loss in the series was a 4-3 setback in the 2014 SEC Tournament. Since that loss, Florida has won the last three meetings.

LAST MEETING VS. TEXAS A&M
FLORIDA TOPS TEXAS A&M IN RESCHEDULED MATCH
The match was originally scheduled for Sunday but rain forced a delay.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (Monday, March 6, 2017) – More than 24 hours after Florida and Texas A&M has been scheduled to begin play in a challenging Southeastern Conference match-up, the Gators finally posted a 4-0 victory on Monday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
In what was set to be an exciting Sunday afternoon between top-ranked Florida and No. 20 Texas A&M, turned into a weather watch, as Mother Nature won the day and forced the match's postponement until late this morning, when the match even endured two short weather delays.
In the end, the Gators jumped out to win the doubles point by earning victories on courts one and two, before Anna Danilina, Josie Kuhlman and Brooke Austin polished off straight-set singles wins to post the team shutout.

Quotes from the Court – UF Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
"It's always exciting to be at the round of 16 with all the other teams. You feel the energy from the men's matches today (Thursday) and I think our players feel the energy being here among the nation's elite.

"Playing Texas A&M is going to be a great challenge. They are really talented and have certainly turned their team around as far as their play is concerned since we played them on March 6 – three months ago. They beat Georgia here in Athens at the end of the season so we know that the team we faced to start the season is not the team that we will be playing on Friday.

"The added pressure of 'you-lose, you go home' can certainly change a team's persona. I was very happy to see how we looked last weekend in the first two rounds and I hope we can continue that on Friday."

Peach State Native will Cap Career at "Home"

Senior Kourtney Keegan is from Roswell, Ga., located approximately 75 miles from Athens.

What's Next?

The winner of Friday's match advances to quarterfinals where they will play the winner of the match between No. 8-seed Georgia Tech and No. 9 seed Oklahoma State on Sunday, May 21 at 4 p.m.
The Gators played and defeated Oklahoma State this season in Gainesville (4-2) to improve to 9-0 all-time against the Cowgirls. Florida is 3-0 all-time versus OSU in NCAA match-ups.
UF is 3-0 all-time against Georgia Tech, with all three coming in NCAA action.

Florida at the NCAA Championships

The Gators sport an all-time NCAA record of 109-28, including a 19-0 record in the round of 64 and an 18-1 mark in the round of 32.
UF has been selected to host first and second round matches every year since the NCAA Women's Championships expanded its field to 64 teams in 1999.
The Gators have participated in 35 of the 36 NCAA Championships, missing only the 1986 event.
The Gators won six NCAA team titles: 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011 and 2012.
UF has advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals 24 times in the last 30 years.
In 1996, Florida became only the second team in NCAA women's tennis history to sweep the team, singles and doubles titles.
Florida was the first of only two schools in NCAA women's tennis history to produce both the NCAA singles champion and finalist in the same year. Shaun Stafford defeated teammate Halle Cioffi in the finals of the 1988 championship.

Quick Glance at the Women's NCAA Field of 64

Florida played 22 of its pre-NCAA Championship scheduled 26 matches this season against 19 different teams that made the NCAA Tournament field of 64 and posted a 19-3 record versus those clubs.
Florida is one of 12 SEC schools in the 2017 field and one of

Gators as the No. 1 Seed

This is the 14th time and the second overall season the Gators are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Championships.
UF was the top seed last year and dropped a 4-3 thriller to eventual champion Stanford in the round of 16.
Only two of UF's four NCAA titles have come when the Gators were the No. 1 seed (1992 & 1996).
Four of UF's six NCAA championships have come when the Gators were the No. 2 seed (1998, 2003, 2011, 2012)
UF has been a top-five seed in 28 of its 31 overall NCAA appearances since seeding began with the 1987 event.

Gators at a Glance

The Gators have won four of their last six matches.
The Gators have won the doubles point in 25 of 28 matches.
UF is 24-1 when winning the doubles point this year. The only loss was in the 4-3 SEC Tournament Final loss at No. 2 Vanderbilt.
Two of the Gator's three losses have been against Vanderbilt, which was awarded the NCAA No. 4 seed.

Individual Gator News (this season)

Anna Danilina has won 10 straight singles matches – the longest active streak by a Gator
Danilina has won a team-leading 31 singles matches
The doubles team of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock sport a 20-3 dual match record at the No. 3 position (21-3 at all positions), which is the second-most in a season by a Gator pair at the three spot in program history. Three other tandems have won 21 times on court three.

Individual Gator News (career notes)

Kourtney Keegan has won 113 career doubles matches, a total that ranks No. 6 all-time in UF history.
Belinda Woolcock has won 105 career singles matches – one of 29 Gators who have eclipsed the century mark for singles victories and the only current Gator.
Keegan has won 95 career singles matches
Junior Josie Kuhlman has won 90 career singles matches

The Championship Site

This season the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Center plays host to the combined men's and women's tournament from the Round of 16 through the final.
The men's Round of 16 began on Thursday, May 18, while women's Round of 16 actions commences on Friday, May 19.

Match Day at a Glance