Florida Gators

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The No. 45 University of Florida tennis team claimed a road victory in dramatic fashion Friday night as it earned a gritty 4-3 win over No. 43 Arkansas at the Billingsley Tennis Center. Friday's win marked head coach Roland Thornqvist's 500^th career victory as the winningest coach in program history collected yet another milestone.
 
The match, which lasted nearly four hours, was an epic battle between two top 50 squads. The Gators, who started off strong by winning the doubles point, fell behind in singles but secured victories on the final two courts to register their first conference win away from Gainesville.
 
Florida trailed 3-2 with action on just two courts remaining, but a pair of newcomers in Tsveta Dimitrova and Marlee Zein battled to clutch three-set victories. Dimitrova overcame an early deficit to pick up a 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 win on court six while Zein clinched the match with a victory via tie break in set three. Zein won the first set 7-6, dropped the second 6-2, but held on for a 7-6 win in the deciding frame.
 
Arkansas claimed wins at No. 1 and No. 2 to open singles, but sophomore Victoria Emma earned an impressive 7-5, 6-0 victory to tie the score at 2-2. Freshman Anastasia Kharitnova dropped a 7-5, 6-3 decision on court five to set up the match-ending heroics from the two Gator newcomers.
 
Florida started off the evening by collecting its fourth straight doubles point, nabbing victories on courts one and three. McCartney Kessler and Emma registered a 6-3 win while Kharitonova/Zein played to a 6-3 win as well. The all freshmen combo defeated a top 100 foe in No. 79 Tudor/Carr.
 
Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog saw their match vs. No. 63 Zerulo/Rice go unfinished as they trailed 5-4.  
 
The Gators struggled off the bat in singles as No. 12 Jarlskog and No. 44 Kessler fell on courts one and two, respectively. Kharitonova saw her unbeaten streak of four matches come to a close Friday night.

Up Next
Sunday, March 10 | 1 p.m. ET
No. 45 Florida (5-5, 2-1) vs. No. 41 Missouri (10-4, 0-3)
Mizzou Tennis Complex | Columbia , Mo.
 
No. 45 Florida , No. 43 Arkansas
Doubles Result
Victoria Emma/McCartney Kessler (Florida) def. Lauren Alter/Tatum Rice, 6-3
Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) vs. No. 63 Martina Zerulo/Thea Rice, 4-5 (Unfinished)
Marlee Zein/Anastasia Kharitonova (Florida) def. No. 79 Miruna Tudor/Jackie Carr, 6-3
 
Doubles order of finish: 1,3
 
Singles Result
Martina Zerulo def. No. 12 Ida Jarlskog (Florida), 6-2, 6-3
No. 98 Tatum Rice def. No. 44 McCartney Kessler (Florida), 6-2, 6-2
No. 52 Victoria Emma (Florida) def. Kayra Rijkers, 7-5, 6-0
Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Jackie Carr, 7-6, 2-6, 7-6
Lauren Alter def. Anastasia Kharitonova (Florida), 7-5, 6-3
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) Miruna Tudor, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
 
Singles order of finish: 2,1,3,5,6,4
 
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
 
On earning his 500^th career win…
"Two things really come to mind. I have had a great co-captain in Dave Balogh. I have been blessed to have such a phenomenal guy next to me. Secondly, we have had the opportunity to coach so many great players who truly bleed orange and blue and they are responsible for these victories. It's been a blessing to be around so many special teams and talented players over the years."

On takeaways from the match…
"I'm really really pleased with the way we closed things out tonight. We've given our players what we consider the blue print to close out matches. In past matches, we had not stuck to it but tonight we really did and I'm so proud of our players for that. We played with our legs and our heads tonight and didn't go for the big shots. It was great to see some positive confirmation in a tight match like this. Instead of overplaying, we stuck to our plan. It was great to see our sideline watch and cheer on the final courts. This was a really tough road match and I'm proud of the resilience the team showed. Arkansas really brought it tonight. After we got ahead with doubles, they really came out focused in singles. Victoria (Emma) came back with a really nice win for us which helped bring us back. Again just really proud of the way we closed it."
 
On Marlee Zein's match-clinching win…
"It's huge. Coming from the junior level to team matches like this can be quite a step up and learning how to deal the pressure can take time. Marlee and our whole team can learn a lot from tonight's match. She showed great poise and focus tonight."

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