Gators Fall in a Tight One to Cal in Home Opener

Wednesday, January 23

Gainesville, FL

3:30 PM

Florida Gators

California

Freshman Anastasia Kharitonova (pictured) and teammate Marlee Zein earned a doubles victory Wednesday

Gators Fall in a Tight One to Cal in Home Opener

Wednesday, January 23, 2019 | Women's Tennis

Women's tennis starts strong but Golden Bears come back to win in dual match opener

By: Sam Stolte

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 11 University of Florida women's tennis team got off to a strong start by winning the doubles point and the first two singles matches, but was unable to sustain it as it fell 4-3 to visiting California, Wednesday evening at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

After clinching the doubles point and winning the first two singles matches Florida looked to be in control but California then won the next three matches to even the tally at 3-3, setting up a winner take all final match between sophomore No. 9 Ida Jarlskog and No. 35 Olivia Hauger.

Jarlskog dropped the first set 6-4, and built a 5-3 lead in the second, only to see Hauger mount a comeback and claim set two in a 7-6 (4) tiebreaker.

Sophomore McCartney Kessler and freshman Sydney Berlin both picked up victories for the Gators.

Florida didn't show any signs of rust out of the gates and claimed the doubles point quickly as Kessler and Berlin teamed up for a 6-1 win over Hauger/Rosenqvist and the freshmen duo of Marlee Zein and Anastasia Kharitonova earned a 6-2 victory over Mraz/Stloukalova. The third doubles contest between Jarlskog/Dimitrova and Bright/Dunk was abandoned after the Gators notched wins in the first two matches.

Florida carried its momentum onto the singles portion as No. 29 Kessler recorded a win (6-4, 7-5) over No. 47 Julia Rosenqvist and Berlin knocked off Maria Smith, 6-3, 6-4.

Tsveta Dimitrova jumped out to an early lead and claimed the first set, but was unable to fend off Katerina Stloukalova who rallied to win the final two sets while Anastasia Kharitonova battled on court six, but fell 7-6, 6-4 to Hana Mraz. Zein, who entered the competition having won three straight matches last weekend in Las Vegas, dropped a close 6-4, 7-6 decision to No. 57 Anna Bright.

The Gators return to action this weekend, Jan. 26 and 27, when they host UC Santa Barbara, Mississippi State and N.C. State as part of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.

Doubles Results
Kessler/Berlin defeats Hauger/Rosenqvist (Cal) | 6-1
Zein/Kharitonova defeats Mraz/Stloukalova (Cal) | 6-2
No. 41 Jarlskog/Dimitrova vs. Bright/Dunk (Cal) | Abandoned

Singles Results
No. 29 McCartney Kessler defeats Julia Rosenqvist (Cal) | 6-4, 7-5
No. 35 Olivia Hauger (Cal) defeats No. 9 Ida Jarlskog | 6-4, 7-6
No. 57 Anna Bright (Cal) defeats Marlee Zein 6-4, 7-6
Katerina Stlokalova (Cal) defeats Tsveta Dimitrova | 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Sydney Berlin defeats Maria Smith (Cal) | 6-3, 6-4
Hana Mraz (Cal) defeats Anastasia Kharitonova | 7-6, 6-4

Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Thoughts on doubles play…

"I thought our doubles play was outstanding, I was really pleased with that. We had spotty play in our first event last weekend in doubles, but today I thought the calling, serving and returning was great. That's going to be huge for us if we can continue to build off this strong start in doubles."

Thoughts on singles play and closing out sets…
"In singles I thought we competed hard but we have to do a better job at the end of sets. We had five new players in the starting lineup today and they had never represented Florida before. Clearly there were some jitters but we have to get a little bit better at the end of sets and the way we process them. At times, I thought that we had leads that slipped and that's going to cost you against a really talented Cal team. You know they compete really hard and if the door is open, you have to make sure you go through. I think we had some 40-love, 40-15 games that we should have closed out that we didn't. At the end of the day, some of the little things like that ended up costing us in the end."

On adjustments going forward…
"Just to get better from here. Not to hang our heads, but to be positive. We are going to watch these matches tomorrow and sort of dissect them and get better from them. At times today we showed a really high level of play. I think the more we continue to teach in practice, the more we will be access that high level of play and that's our challenge. With youth, we just have to keep trying to access that high level of play because if we can, we are going to have a really good team. It would have been worse if I hadn't seen the level that I know we can attain, then you worry. But if I do my job and they train hard I think we can be very good. Youth is only bad if you're bad, if you're talented then it can be a positive. From what I saw today, I'm actually pretty excited. I think we can get a lot better in a hurry."

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