Results (PDF)
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team (12-10, 7-6) battled to a 4-2 victory over No. 43 Ole Miss Thursday afternoon in the second round of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament held at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M.
Freshman
Marlee Zein added her third match-clinching victory of the season when she posted a 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 win from court four. It was the reigning SEC Freshman of the Week's third straight win.
No. 15
Ida Jarlskog, No. 35
McCartney Kessler, and freshman
Sydney Berlin also notched singles wins as the Gators stormed back after dropping the doubles point.
UF claimed its 13
th straight victory over Ole Miss and improved to 10-1 over the Rebels in SEC Tournament play as it came out on the winning end of a match that saw two weather delays and lasted over four hours.
With the win the 7
th-seeded Gators advance to the tournament's quarterfinal round and will take on the 2
nd-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks (17-3, 12-1) at 11 am ET on Friday.
The Gators improved to 78-11 all time in the SEC Tournament with their win over No. 10 seed Ole Miss.
Florida faced an early deficit as the Rebels earned the doubles point with wins on all three courts. The Rebels started off fast by getting out to early leads in all three contests and held their ground despite a late charge on courts one and three from Florida. After court two went final with a 6-1 verdict in favor of Ole Miss, Florida trailed 5-3 on the remaining two courts but both Gator tandems fought back to force tiebreaks. Despite the late rally, Ole Miss held on for wins in both matches as No. 42 Kessler/Emma fell 6-7 (5-7) and Berlin/Zein dropped a 6-7 (3-7) decision as their two-match win streak come to a close.
The Gators struggled in the very early stages of singles as Ole Miss claimed the opening game on five of the six courts. Florida would quickly find its focus and collectively shake off the slow start as it ended up winning sets on five courts.
Berlin tallied Florida's first scoring of the afternoon when she pulled out a win from court six. She cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Cameron Kriscunas and won for the second time in as many matches.
No. 35 Kessler advanced UF's momentum with a 7-6 (9-7), 6-1 victory over No. 73 Tea Jandric on court two. After a tight opening set, Kessler cruised in the second to nab her sixth top 100 win of the season.
Ole Miss evened the count at 2-2 when Alex Bortles defeated
Tsveta Dimitrova, 6-4, 6-4.
With all three remaining matches reaching the third set, Jarlskog's bout was the first to finish as the sophomore posted a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win to give the Gators a 3-2 edge. The Georgia Tech transfer registered her 10
th victory over a ranked foe this season, a team best.
Zein, on court four, and No. 124
Victoria Emma, on three, both had matches in flight and both led late. With Zein leading 5-2 in the deciding set and Emma tied at 5-5, the clouds opened up and brought on the match's second weather delay. Following the brief stoppage in play, the match resumed and Zein, after dropping a game, clinched it for the Gators with her three-set victory.
Emma saw her match go unfinished at 6-3, 2-6, 5-6.
UF improved to 6-6 when dropping the doubles point and claimed its third win its last four outings.
No. 5 South Carolina (17-3, 12-1) enters the postseason riding a seven match winning streak and finished in second place in the SEC standings. No. 4 Ingrid Gamarra Martins, No. 23 Paige Cline and No. 84 Mia Horvit represent South Carolina in the ITA rankings in singles. Horvit and Gamarra Martins are the nation's No. 1 doubles unit and have posted a 12-2 record in the dual match season.
Florida leads the series between the programs 44-3 and owns a 8-0 edge over the Gamecocks in SEC Tournament action.
The Gators and Gamecocks met just six days ago as visiting South Carolina pulled out the 4-2 win in Gainesville. After dropping the doubles point and getting off to a slow start in singles, the Gators were in contention on the remaining three courts and pushed all three matches to third sets, but couldn't quite complete the comeback. Taking on a top 15 opponent for the second time in as many matches, Florida saw two freshman pick up impressive victories as Zein and Berlin accounted for both of UF's scores.
Up Next
Friday, April 19
No. 24, No. 7 seed Florida (12-10, 7-6) vs. No. 5, No. 2 seed South Carolina (17-3, 12-1)
11 a.m. ET
Mitchell Tennis Center | College Station, Texas
No. 24, No. 7 Seed Florida vs. No. 43, No. 10 Seed Ole Miss
Doubles Results
Sabina Machalova/Alexa Bortles def. No. 42
McCartney Kessler/
Victoria Emma, 7-6 (7-5)
Tea Jandric/Anna Vrbenska def.
Ida Jarlskog/
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-1
Tereza Janatova/Cameron Kriscunas
def. Marlee Zein/
Sydney Berlin (Florida), 7-6 (7-3)
Doubles order of finish: 2,3,1
Singles Results
No. 15
Ida Jarlskog (Florida) def. No. 94 Sabina Machalova, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
No. 35
McCartney Kessler (Florida) def. No. 73 Tea Jandric, 7-6 (9-7), 6-1
No. 124 Victoria Emma (Florida) vs. Anna Vrbenska, 6-3, 2-6, 5-6 (unfinished)
Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Tereza Janatova, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3
Alexa Bortles
def. Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-4, 6-4
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Allie Sanford, 6-1, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 6,2,5,1,4
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Overall thoughts on the win…
"I thought we kept our cool and handled the weather delays really well. We handled the poor weather conditions with the swirly wind we had very well as well. We're happy to move on and get another crack at South Carolina. I thought we played really tough last week so we are eager to give them another shot."
On the team winning three of its last four matches…
"I think we are all playing better. We've said this before but over the last three weeks, I would say, we have reached another level of performance. Now in the postseason, momentum is obviously a big part of it and we definitely have some wind at our sails."
On the team turning the page from doubles to singles…
"I thought they all competed really well today. We've been fortunate at times this year where we won doubles points we shouldn't have and have been on the opposite side where a few times we've lost some that we should have won. I think we've gotten to a point now as a team that we have learned sort of how to compartmentalize the doubles point and just treat singles as a separate entity. That's really what you have to do to be successful I think. Our fast start in singles certainly proves that."
On the performance of freshman Sydney Berlin…
"She sort of highlights this whole improvement for us over the last few weeks. If you look at her win loss record over these last few weeks, it's fantastic over her last few outings. That's a big boost for us. The fact that she puts up two big breadsticks after we lose the doubles point, that makes it 1-1 and all the sudden we are even. That really helped the Gators today."
Florida's SEC Tournament History
- All-Time Record: 78-11
- Championships: 20 (most recent in 2016)
- Runner-Up Finishes: 7 (most recent in 2018)
- Semifinalists: 3
- Florida has advanced to the SEC Tournament final 27 times in the 31-year history of the event
Florida's Round-by-Round Record
- First Round: 0-0
- Second Round: 1-0
- Quarterfinals: 30-1
- Semifinals: 27-3
- Final: 20-7
2019 SEC Women's Tennis Tournament
Mitchell Tennis Center | College Station, Texas
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