GAINESVILLE, Fla. – For the 37th time in the program's 38-year history, the University of Florida women's tennis team has earned a spot in the NCAA Tennis Championships as the 64-team bracket was unveiled Monday evening.
UF (12-11, 7-6 SEC) will take on Boston College (16-9, 5-9 ACC) in first-round action from Lawrence, Kan. Match time is set for 11 am ET on Friday, May 3.
With a victory over Boston College, the Gators would square off with the winner of the matchup between the host Jayhawks and Denver.
Head Coach
Roland Thornqvist, qualifying for the NCAA Championship for the 22nd straight season since taking over the Gator program, will return to the campus of Kansas where he spent his first two seasons as a head coach from 1996-1998.
The 2019 championship will be conducted May 16-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Team semifinals and finals are scheduled for May 18 and 19, respectively, with singles and doubles play set for May 20-25.
Complete bracket (PDF)
Florida has maintained a top 50 ranking all season long and enters the postseason touting its highest ranking of the dual match campaign at No. 23. BC holds the No. 42 ITA rank.
The Gators feature two ranked singles players in No. 15
Ida Jarlskog and No. 30
McCartney Kessler as well as one ranked doubles side in No. 35 Kessler and
Victoria Emma. Both Kessler and Jarlskog earned All-SEC nods last week.
Despite a relatively inexperienced team overall, four players on the roster do have NCAA postseason experience as Kessler, Emma and
Katie Kubicz all suited up for Florida in the event a season ago while Jarlskog competed last year with Georgia Tech.
In 2018, Florida exited the NCAA Championships in the second round as it dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to in-state foe Florida State, 4-3, at the Ring Tennis Complex. Hosting first- and second-round action for the 21st
consecutive season, the Gators took care of Youngstown State before their tight loss to the Seminoles.
Stanford claimed the championship a season ago and Vanderbilt finished as the runner-up.
An SEC team has finished as the champion in four of the last eight events.
Selections for the NCAA Division I Singles and Doubles Championships will be announced Tuesday evening.
Quoting UF Women's Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
"We are very excited for another opportunity to get out there and compete. There was a time during the season when we weren't sure if we were going to have the chance to qualify for the year end tournament, so we are thrilled to be playing postseason tennis. We are at a point now where we have the entire roster healthy and we obviously haven't been able to say that at many times during this season. There aren't any expectations for this group other than to go out and play as hard as we can. We are going to continue to work on the things that we have been talking about and do our best to make the postseason our best season. Boston College is another Power 5 team that played against some very stiff competition. We are looking forward to the challenge."
Florida at the NCAA Championships
- With today's announcement, the Gators have earned a berth into 37 of the 38 NCAA Championships, missing only the 1986 event.
- The Gators have won seven NCAA team titles: 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011, 2012 and 2017.
- UF has advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals 24 times in the last 31 years.
- UF will travel away from Gainesville for its First and Second Round matchups for the first time since 1999 when the NCAA Women's Championships expanded its field to 64 teams.
- Head Coach Roland Thornqvist has guided the Gators to the NCAA Championships in all 22 of his seasons at Florida.
Florida's Record at NCAA Championships
- Round of 64: 20-0
- Round of 32: 18-2
- Round of 16: 30-4
- Quarterfinals: 25-5
- Semifinals: 14-11
- Final: 7-7
- Home: 52-6
- Away: 3-3
- Neutral: 59-20
- As No. 1: 46-11 (3 titles, 5 runner-ups)
- As No. 2: 31-3 (4 titles, 1 runner-up)
- As No. 3: 5-1 (1 runner-up)
- As No. 4: 15-4 (3 semifinal appearances)
- As No. 5: 5-3 (3 quarterfinal appearances)
- As No. 6: 4-1 (1 semifinal appearance)
- As No. 8: 4-1 (1 semifinal appearance)
- As No. 9: 1-1 (round of 32)
- As No. 15: 2-1 (round of 16)
Individual NCAA Records (Current Players)
Kessler - Singles: 1-1 | Doubles: 1-1
Emma - Singles: 0-1 | Doubles: 1-1
Kubicz - Singles: 0-1 | Doubles: 1-0
Kessler - Singles: 5-0 | Doubles: 1-3
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