GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida shrugged off dropping the doubles-point and made quick work on the singles court as the Gators defeated Arkansas, 4-1, at Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex Thursday evening.
 
The Gators had their chances to claim the doubles point for the early lead, however, it wouldn't matter with Katie Kubicz, Peggy Porter, Anna Danilina and McCartney Kessler each netting straight set singles wins to secure Florida's fourth consecutive victory and more importantly improve to 8-1 in the Southeastern Conference.
 
Kubicz was the first off the court, posting a 6-0, 6-1 win in 48 minutes. The Gator freshman won the first 10 games of the match before Agne Cepelyte prevented the double-bagel with a break, but couldn't slow Kubicz's game any further.



Porter was just nine minutes behind Kubicz with her 6-1, 6-1 victory against Tatum Rice, who held serve once in both sets and unable to crack Porter's serve.


 
Danilina squared off against Giulia Pairone on the showcase court and the first set lived up to its hype. The Gator senior broke to open and held at love for a quick 2-0 lead before Pairone held serve to get on the board. Danilina was able to get another break in the seventh game for a 5-2 lead, when the Razorback regrouped and won the next two games and inch closer a 5-4. Danilina served out for the first set. The second was on-serve through four games when Danilina got the break and held for 4-2, winning the final five games of the match to claim the 6-4, 6-2 win for her sixth consecutive singles victory.
 


Kessler closed out the match with a gutty 6-4, 7-5 victory against Natsuho Arakawa and won her seventh straight singles match and provide the clinching dual match victory for the sixth time this season. The Gator rookie was receiving, down 3-1 in the first before mounting her comeback, as she won three straight games. She earned another break in the ninth game for a 5-4 lead and held to take the first set. It was a bit of a reverse in the second, where Kessler jumped out to a 3-1 lead before Arakawa four consecutive games for a 5-3 lead with the serve. Kessler, however, dug deep and won the final four games to earn the straight-set victory.
 


What's Next for the Gators

• Who: No. 12 Florida hosts Missouri (11-11, 0-8 SEC)
• When: Saturday, March 31 at 11 a.m.
• Where: Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
• Admission: FREE for all
• Special Promotion: first 100 fans receive a free Gator Women's Tennis t-shirt
• Postmatch: there is a FREE Kids Clinic for all youth in the 8th grade and under!
• Prematch Notes: http://floridagators.com/documents/2018/3/26/2018_03_29_Ark_Mizzou.pdf
• Live Video & Scoring: http://floridagators.com/tennis-women-live

 
Doubles Take

• Florida dropped the doubles point for the seventh time this season and for the first time since March 16 at Georgia – four matches ago.
• Arkansas struck first with the 6-3 win on court three, before Florida's one team of Anna Danilina and Victoria Emma captured the 6-4 win and their fourth consecutive victory to put the pressure on court two.
• McCartney Kessler and Josie Kuhlman were battling on court two and even held a 4-1 lead before the Razorbacks came storming back to win five straight games to take the 6-4 decision and the doubles point. The Gator pair did stave off two match points in the 10th game, but couldn't turn away a third as the Razorbacks took the early 1-0 lead in the dual match.
• This was the 11th time this season that the doubles point came down to court two and was just the fourth time the Gator were unable to capture the clincher.

 
Gator Bytes

• Thursday's match was the start of a four-day stretch of playing three matches.
• The Gators improved to 3-4 when dropping the doubles point.
• Three of Florida's next five dual matches are at home.

 
Triple Play

• The Gators are in the midst of playing three matches in four days.
• The Gators play host to Missouri on Saturday before traveling to Orlando on Sunday to face No. 7 Texas at the USTA National Campus.
• Sunday's match will be part of College Match Day and will be played at the USTA National Campus. It will be televised live on the Tennis Channel, with Leif Shiras, Tracy Austin and Prakash Amritraj (sideline) covering the action.

 
SEC Race

• The Gators now sport a 13-5 record overall and are 8-1 in the SEC. The teams play 13 conference matches.
• Florida is tied with Vanderbilt (8-1) for second in the SEC standings, while Georgia is 6-2 and Mississippi State is 5-3 in league matches.
• South Carolina (9-0) leads the SEC as the only undefeated team.

 
Florida vs. Arkansas: The UPDATED Series

• All-Time: UF leads the all-time series against Arkansas, 29-1 (UF at home: 16-0; away 12-1; neutral 1-0).
• Last Meeting: The Gators narrowly escaped with a 4-3 victory on March, 24, 2017, in Fayetteville.
• Streak: The series started in 1992, with the only loss against Arkansas coming on April 5, 2009 in Fayetteville. Since then, the Gators have won the last nine meetings against the Razorbacks, including Thursday's 4-1 win.

 
The No. 12 Gators (13-5, 8-1 SEC) at a Glance

• What Just Happened: The Gators won their fourth consecutive match and kept pace in the SEC regular-season race.
• Individual Rankings: Singles- No. 19 Anna Danilina and No. 49 Josie Kuhlman. Doubles- No. 23 Anna Danilina & Victoria Emma
• Of Note: Florida has won 10 of its last 11 dual matches, including four straight.

 
Quotes from the Court – UF Coach Roland Thornqvist
On playing so well after dropping the doubles point:
"I think this team is doing a good job of not panicking when we lose the doubles point. It's more matter of fact – alright, let's go. Each one of them feels as though they can do their job on the singles court. I think it's important not to get too high on a doubles win and not too low when you lose it. Katie (Kubicz), today, that was her best singles match of the year by a mile. She was flawless, really. When she plays like that she has great pace, huge cross court … when she plays like that, she's really difficult to beat."
 

• WATCH the rest of Coach Thornqvist's postmatch interview: https://youtu.be/nCfP5vmndNc

 

• WATCH the postmatch interview with Katie Kubicz: https://youtu.be/KdZOeybi46o

 

• WATCH the postmatch interview with McCartney Kessler: https://youtu.be/Bv3XN_HFLck

 


Match 18
#48 Arkansas at #12 Florida
Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, FL
Thursday, March 29, 2018
 
Final: Florida def. Arkansas, 4-1
 
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*)
1. #23 Anna Danilina/Victoria Emma (UF) def. #40 Ana Oparenovic/Tatum Rice (AR) 6-4
2. Giulia Pairone/Mia Jurasic (AR) def. Josie Kuhlman/McCartney Kessler (UF) 6-4*
3. Natsuho Arakawa/Agne Cepelyte (AR) def. Katie Kubicz/Peggy Porter (UF) 6-3
 
Singles (Order of Finish: 6, 5, 1, 4*)
1. #18 Anna Danilina (UF) def. #55 Giulia Pairone (AR) 6-4, 6-2
2. #48 Josie Kuhlman (UF) vs. #76 Ana Oparenovic (AR) 1-6, 6-2, 1-0, unfinished
3. Victoria Emma (UF) vs. Mia Jurasic (AR) 2-6, 6-3, unfinished
4. McCartney Kessler (UF) def. Natsuho Arakawa (AR) 6-4, 7-5*
5. Peggy Porter (UF) def. Tatum Rice (AR) 6-1, 6-1
6. Katie Kubicz (UF) def. Agne Cepelyte (AR) 6-0, 6-1
 
Match Notes:
Arkansas 5-12, 1-7 SEC; National ranking #48
Florida 13-5, 8-1 SEC; National ranking #12
T-2:09  A-248
 
Gator Pronunciations

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

 
 
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