Florida Gators

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 31 University of Florida women's tennis team (8-8, 5-4) broke through for a 4-3 win over No. 23 LSU (14-7, 4-5) Friday evening at the LSU Tennis Complex.
 
No stranger to close matches as of late, the Gators competed in their eighth 4-3 match of the campaign and third straight, but this time reversed the trend and fought hard to walk away with the narrow win.
 
Freshman Marlee Zein registered her second match-clinching win of the campaign as she outlasted Paris Corley in an epic battle, notching a 7-6, 5-7, 7-5 win on court six to give the Gators their fifth SEC win.
 
Sydney Berlin, Tsveta Dimitrova and No. 16 Ida Jarlskog all added singles wins as well as the Gators overcame an early deficit.
 
For the second-straight match, Florida knocked off a top 10 singles opponent as this time it was Jarlskog who earned a victory over No. 10 Eden Richardson.
 
Victoria Emma and McCartney Kessler earned one of their most impressive victories in doubles so far this season as they knocked off Richardson and Jessica Golovin, the reigning NCAA Doubles Champions, 6-3.
 
The teams entered the match with identical 4-4 records in league play and the Gators leapfrogged the Tigers with the win as teams continue to jockey for position in the SEC standings.
 
Despite the win at No. 1, the Gators fell behind early as the Tigers claimed the doubles point with match wins on courts two and three. LSU, which entered the match with a 32-14 mark overall in doubles play, was too much for the Gators as Dimitrova/Jarlskog fell to Loughlan/Corley at the No. 2 position and Berlin/Zein came up short against Johnson/Bridges at No. 3.
 
Florida came out determined in singles, winning the first set on five of the six courts.
 
The freshman Berlin earned her first SEC victory as she cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win on court six to tie the score at 1-1. Soon after, No. 38 Kessler saw her five-match winning streak come to a halt as she dropped a 7-5, 6-1 decision to No. 60 Golovin.
 
No. 16 Jarlskog then responded with a 6-2, 6-3 win over No. 10 Richardson from court one to knot the score at 2-2. Richardson is the highest rated player the sophomore has defeated this season and with the win Jarlskog improved to 11-3 on the campaign.
 
With the score even, the attention shifted to courts three, four and five where all three matches went three sets.
 
Rain forced the remaining contests indoors.
 
After dropping the second set, Dimitrova responded with a 6-2 win in the final stanza to nab a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory and put the Gators ahead 3-2. The redshirt-junior snapped a three-game slide with the triumph.
 
No. 67 Emma got off to a strong start, but dropped a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 decision to No. 60 Golovin which set up a winner take all match on court four where Zein battled Corley.
 
Zein and Corley fought back and forth in the first two sets as Zein won the first 7-6 in a tiebreak and Corley picked up the 7-5 victory in set two. In the deciding set Zein had the hot hand early, mounting a 4-0 advantage, but Corley won four-consecutive sets to tie things at 4-4.
 
After they split the next two sets, Zein showed great poise and secured the final two sets to propel the Gators to the win.
 
Florida concludes its season-long four-match road swing Sunday when it takes on Texas A&M in College Station Sunday afternoon.
 
Up Next
Sunday, March 31 | 1 p.m. ET
No. 31 Florida (8-8, 5-4) at No. 12 Texas A&M (18-3, 6-2)
Mitchell Tennis Center | College Station, Texas  
 
No. 31 Florida at No. 23 LSU
Doubles Results
Victoria Emma/McCartney Kessler (Florida) def. No. 10 Eden Richardson/Jessica Golovin, 6-3
Anna Loughlan/Paris Corley def. Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-3
Kennan Johnson/Taylor Bridges def. Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-1

Doubles order of finish: 3,1,2
 
Singles Results
No. 16 Ida Jarlskog (Florida) def. No. 10 Eden Richardson, 6-2, 6-3
No. 60 Jessica Golovin def. No. 38 McCartney Kessler (Florida), 7-5, 6-1
Taylor Bridges def. No. 67 Victoria Emma (Florida), 6-3, 3-6, 1-6
Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Paris Corley, 7-6, 5-7, 7-5
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Kennan Johnson, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Luba Vasilyuk, 6-2, 6-1
 
Singles order of finish: 6, 2,1,5,3,4
 
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
 
Overall thoughts on match…
"I'm really proud of the whole team for the way we fought tonight, but in particular the freshmen were just tremendous. We know going in that a lot of these matches are going to be close ones that may come down to the final court. Regardless of what happens, it is key that we play with poise and with positive emotion, and tonight we did that. I think we've learned a lot over the last few matches on what kind of toughness it takes to accomplish the goal and I couldn't be more proud of the way we came together to get it done."

On the team's play in doubles and starting off strong in singles…
"Obviously in doubles you see the outstanding effort from Victoria (Emma) and McCartney (Kessler), they really impressed me. Anytime you knock off the defending NCAA Doubles Champions, that's really something. On courts two and three, we were below par and that cost us. In singles, we built leads on many courts to start off and I think that helped us gain a lot of confidence. I thought we showed great focus in some crucial moments there."
 
On Marlee Zein clinching the match…
"Marlee (Zein) got ahead big in the last set, but saw her opponent tie things up at 5-5. I have to say that she really played her best tennis after it was 5-5, and that is extremely hard to do. I'm very proud of the way she was able to reset and focus on the now. Great performance from Marlee tonight."
 
On the young team continuing to improve and gain experience…
"With young teams like this, we know there will be ups and downs and chances for volatility in performance. Our goal is to strive to get better over time and see signs of improvement. We certainly are continuing to see those. I'm excited for our players after this one. It was great to see them fight and hold on for the win."
 
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