Friday, April 19
College Station, TX
11 AM
Florida Gators
3
vs
4
South Carolina
Freshman Sydney Berlin won her third straight match Friday.
Gators Fall to South Carolina in SEC Quarters
Friday, April 19, 2019 | Women's Tennis
No. 24 women’s tennis rallies back but drops 4-3 decision to No. 5 Gamecocks in conference tournament action Friday.
Results
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team (12-11, 7-6) fell 4-3 to No. 5 South Carolina (18-3, 12-1) Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament held at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M. Playing in their 10th match decided by a 4-3 score, the Gators battled back and forth with the Gamecocks as the teams met for the second time in a week span.
The No. 7 seed Gators came back to equalize after trailing 3-1, but couldn't break through in the end as South Carolina recorded the deciding win on court five.
UF won the doubles point in convincing fashion, but the No. 2 seed Gamecocks responded quickly by winning three straight singles matches.
Sydney Berlin, winning her third consecutive match, and No. 35 McCartney Kessler, picking up her seventh top 100 victory, each posted winning tallies for the Gators in singles.
Florida's doubles unit set the tone early as No. 42 Kessler and Victoria Emma and the freshmen duo of Berlin and Marlee Zein turned in impressive performances from court one and three, respectively.
Emma and Kessler defeated the nation's No. 1 doubles tandem in Mia Horvit and Ingrid Martins. The Gator combo recorded their second top 10 win of the season and fourth win over a ranked opponent. Court one was the first to finish as Emma/Kessler notched a dominant 6-1 win while Berlin/Zein followed suit on court three with a 6-2 victory. Tsveta Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog saw their match go unfinished with them trailing 2-3.
South Carolina turned the page quickly to singles where it won three of the six opening sets.
Court four finished first as No. 124 Emma dropped a 6-0, 6-3 decision to No. 83 Mia Horvit. Court one's verdict soon followed as No. 15 Jarlskog fell to No. 4 Martins, 6-1, 6-2. The Gamecocks got out to a 3-1 lead when the freshman Zein came up short, 6-0, 6-4, against Megan Davies at the No. 4 slot.
The Gators wouldn't go down as easy though as Kessler and Berlin posted wins in succession to knot the score at 3-3. Kessler grinded out a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over No. 24 Paige Cline. Kessler avenged her three-set loss to Cline on April 13.
After Kessler got the Gators to within a point at 3-2, Berlin rattled off another win as she rolled to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Rachel Rohrabacher on six.
With the tally even at 3-3, the crowd's attention shifted to court five where Dimitrova squared off with Silvia Chinellato. After splitting sets, the two played a competitive final stanza but it was Chinellato who walked away with the 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
The Gators fall to 3-7 in matches decided by a 4-3 score and to 6-5 when winning the doubles point.
UF's record against South Carolina in SEC Tournament play drops to 8-1 and the Gators overall record in the quarterfinal round is now 30-2.
Florida will learn of its NCAA Tournament future when matchups and seeds are announced on Monday, April 29 during the Selection Show.
No. 24, No. 7 Seed Florida vs. No. 5, No. 2 Seed South Carolina
Doubles Results
No. 42 McCartney Kessler/Victoria Emma def. No. 1 Mia Horvit/Ingrid Martins, 6-1
Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) vs. Rachel Rohrabacher/Paige Cline, 2-3 (Unfinished)
Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Kennedy Wicker/Megan Davies, 6-2
Doubles order of finish: 1,3
Singles Results
No. 4 Ingrid Martins def. No. 15 Ida Jarlskog (Florida), 6-1, 6-2
No. 35 McCartney Kessler (Florida) vs. No. 24 Paige Cline, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
No. 83 Mia Horvit def. No. 124 Victoria Emma (Florida), 0-6, 3-6
Megan Davies def. Marlee Zein (Florida), 0-6, 4-6
Silvia Chinellato def. Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Rachel Rohrabacher, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 3,1,4,2,6,5
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Overall thoughts on the match…
"I thought we had better energy in doubles than we did yesterday and that led to more made first serves and better returns. I don't think we played fantastic or anything I just think we did the fundamentals really well. In singles, it just ran away from us too quickly and too easily. There was too many easy first set losses that helped them (South Carolina) regain their momentum. After 15 minutes they looked up at the scoreboard and knew they were right back in it. If you have to look at one thing, it would have to be the first 15 minutes of singles play. That was kind of what sealed our fate, if you will. That being said we absolutely had a chance at the end and I'm proud of the way we fought to get back. The improvement from Sydney (Berlin) over the last few months has been amazing. She played well again today. It was big for McCartney (Kessler) too because she was able to get a win and some retribution for her loss last time we played South Carolina."
We are a disappointed bunch. I thought we had a chance to get them here but credit to South Carolina. They are willing to make balls. They're willing to suffer physically and play long duels. In the wind like this, it really is tough to play good tennis and they were the tougher team so all the credit goes to them today."
On the close loss and what the team can build on from it going forward…
"I think we're close but we're clearly not all the way there. It takes a complete performance from six players for us to get there. I thought that we had a performance or two both last Saturday and today that were short of getting it done for us. So for us to beat a top five team like this we are going to need to be clicking on all five cylinders. We don't have a margin for error when playing at that level. But at the same time you can see that we don't have to play out of our minds, we just have to always play hard to have a chance. We're certainly disappointed but competing the way we did definitely gives us hope heading into the NCAA Tournament. Plus we've had to deal with some injuries. Now with three weeks hopefully we can really heal up here and get some fitness going and have us all ready to go for the first round."
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team (12-11, 7-6) fell 4-3 to No. 5 South Carolina (18-3, 12-1) Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament held at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M. Playing in their 10th match decided by a 4-3 score, the Gators battled back and forth with the Gamecocks as the teams met for the second time in a week span.
The No. 7 seed Gators came back to equalize after trailing 3-1, but couldn't break through in the end as South Carolina recorded the deciding win on court five.
UF won the doubles point in convincing fashion, but the No. 2 seed Gamecocks responded quickly by winning three straight singles matches.
Sydney Berlin, winning her third consecutive match, and No. 35 McCartney Kessler, picking up her seventh top 100 victory, each posted winning tallies for the Gators in singles.
Florida's doubles unit set the tone early as No. 42 Kessler and Victoria Emma and the freshmen duo of Berlin and Marlee Zein turned in impressive performances from court one and three, respectively.
Emma and Kessler defeated the nation's No. 1 doubles tandem in Mia Horvit and Ingrid Martins. The Gator combo recorded their second top 10 win of the season and fourth win over a ranked opponent. Court one was the first to finish as Emma/Kessler notched a dominant 6-1 win while Berlin/Zein followed suit on court three with a 6-2 victory. Tsveta Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog saw their match go unfinished with them trailing 2-3.
South Carolina turned the page quickly to singles where it won three of the six opening sets.
Court four finished first as No. 124 Emma dropped a 6-0, 6-3 decision to No. 83 Mia Horvit. Court one's verdict soon followed as No. 15 Jarlskog fell to No. 4 Martins, 6-1, 6-2. The Gamecocks got out to a 3-1 lead when the freshman Zein came up short, 6-0, 6-4, against Megan Davies at the No. 4 slot.
The Gators wouldn't go down as easy though as Kessler and Berlin posted wins in succession to knot the score at 3-3. Kessler grinded out a 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 victory over No. 24 Paige Cline. Kessler avenged her three-set loss to Cline on April 13.
After Kessler got the Gators to within a point at 3-2, Berlin rattled off another win as she rolled to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Rachel Rohrabacher on six.
With the tally even at 3-3, the crowd's attention shifted to court five where Dimitrova squared off with Silvia Chinellato. After splitting sets, the two played a competitive final stanza but it was Chinellato who walked away with the 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win.
The Gators fall to 3-7 in matches decided by a 4-3 score and to 6-5 when winning the doubles point.
UF's record against South Carolina in SEC Tournament play drops to 8-1 and the Gators overall record in the quarterfinal round is now 30-2.
Florida will learn of its NCAA Tournament future when matchups and seeds are announced on Monday, April 29 during the Selection Show.
No. 24, No. 7 Seed Florida vs. No. 5, No. 2 Seed South Carolina
Doubles Results
No. 42 McCartney Kessler/Victoria Emma def. No. 1 Mia Horvit/Ingrid Martins, 6-1
Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) vs. Rachel Rohrabacher/Paige Cline, 2-3 (Unfinished)
Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Kennedy Wicker/Megan Davies, 6-2
Doubles order of finish: 1,3
Singles Results
No. 4 Ingrid Martins def. No. 15 Ida Jarlskog (Florida), 6-1, 6-2
No. 35 McCartney Kessler (Florida) vs. No. 24 Paige Cline, 7-6 (8-6), 6-4
No. 83 Mia Horvit def. No. 124 Victoria Emma (Florida), 0-6, 3-6
Megan Davies def. Marlee Zein (Florida), 0-6, 4-6
Silvia Chinellato def. Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 4-6, 6-4, 6-3
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Rachel Rohrabacher, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 3,1,4,2,6,5
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Overall thoughts on the match…
"I thought we had better energy in doubles than we did yesterday and that led to more made first serves and better returns. I don't think we played fantastic or anything I just think we did the fundamentals really well. In singles, it just ran away from us too quickly and too easily. There was too many easy first set losses that helped them (South Carolina) regain their momentum. After 15 minutes they looked up at the scoreboard and knew they were right back in it. If you have to look at one thing, it would have to be the first 15 minutes of singles play. That was kind of what sealed our fate, if you will. That being said we absolutely had a chance at the end and I'm proud of the way we fought to get back. The improvement from Sydney (Berlin) over the last few months has been amazing. She played well again today. It was big for McCartney (Kessler) too because she was able to get a win and some retribution for her loss last time we played South Carolina."
We are a disappointed bunch. I thought we had a chance to get them here but credit to South Carolina. They are willing to make balls. They're willing to suffer physically and play long duels. In the wind like this, it really is tough to play good tennis and they were the tougher team so all the credit goes to them today."
On the close loss and what the team can build on from it going forward…
"I think we're close but we're clearly not all the way there. It takes a complete performance from six players for us to get there. I thought that we had a performance or two both last Saturday and today that were short of getting it done for us. So for us to beat a top five team like this we are going to need to be clicking on all five cylinders. We don't have a margin for error when playing at that level. But at the same time you can see that we don't have to play out of our minds, we just have to always play hard to have a chance. We're certainly disappointed but competing the way we did definitely gives us hope heading into the NCAA Tournament. Plus we've had to deal with some injuries. Now with three weeks hopefully we can really heal up here and get some fitness going and have us all ready to go for the first round."
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
Players Mentioned
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/ Women's Tennis
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