Trouble with the Tide: Gators Drop 4-1 Decision to Alabama

Friday, April 5

Gainesville, FL

3 PM

Florida Gators

Alabama

Photo by: Tim Casey

Photo by: Tim Casey

Trouble with the Tide: Gators Drop 4-1 Decision to Alabama

Friday, April 5, 2019 | Women's Tennis

Photo Gallery by Tim Casey

Women's tennis mounts late comeback but falls at home to No. 43 Alabama Friday.

By: Sam Stolte

Results

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 23 University of Florida women's tennis team suffered a 4-1 setback to No. 49 Alabama Friday evening at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

After trailing 3-0, the Gators fought back late in the match but ran out of time as the Crimson Tide put a halt to UF's two-match winning streak.

After Tsveta Dimitrova got the Gators on the board with a win from court four, Florida drew within striking distance at 3-1 with three courts still active. Sydney Berlin and Victoria Emma both led late in the third set in their respective matches on courts five and two, but they wouldn't have a chance to score as Alabama's Alab Cortina Pou knocked off freshman Marlee Zein, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at No. 3 to clinch the match for the Crimson Tide.

Playing without the services of No. 34 McCartney Kessler, the Gators were unable to overcome their loss of the doubles point and a slow start in singles as Alabama nabbed its first ever win in Gainesville.

Florida shuffled its doubles rotation and featured its fifth different doubles lineup this season, breaking a string of 12 straight matches with the same pairings.

Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog, playing at No. 1 doubles for the first time since Jan. 28, fell to Andie Daniell and Cortina Pou, 6-2 while Zein and Sydney Berlin were defeated 6-2 by Ann Selim and Kimberley Gintrand of UA. Emma and Katie Kubicz built an early lead but saw their match go unfinished as they trailed 5-4.

Alabama transferred its momentum gained in doubles into singles competition as it claimed the opening set on four of the six courts.

The Tide struck first in singles as No. 68 Daniell notched a 6-3, 6-1 win, handing No. 8 Jarlskog her first loss since March 23 at Kentucky.

Alabama then extended its lead to 3-0 after Kubicz, appearing in her first action since March 3 vs. Mississippi State, dropped a 6-2, 6-4 match on court six.

Dimitrova, registering her seventh singles win, recorded Florida's lone point with 6-4, 6-3 victory over Jacqueline Pelletier.

Florida trailed 3-1, but managed to swing the match's momentum back in its favor when Berlin and Emma looked destined to claim wins in their matches. Both Berlin and Emma dropped their opening sets but came on strong later in the match.

After falling behind 4-0 in the third set, Zein showed great resiliency to comeback and cut the lead to 4-3, but the freshman couldn't hold on in what was the decisive match. Play ended with Emma leading 5-0 in the winner-take-all third set while Berlin was tied 5-5.

The Gators dropped their 10^th match overall but just their third match with a margin of more than two points.

Florida returns to action Sunday, April 7 when it hosts No. 49 Auburn at 1 p.m. ET.

Up Next
Sunday, April 7 | 1 p.m. ET
No. 31 Florida (9-9, 6-5) vs. vs. No. 49 Auburn (13-12, 0-10)
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex | Gainesville, Fla.

No. 23 Florida vs. No. 43 Alabama
Doubles Results
Andie Daniell/Moka Ito def. Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-2
Luca Fabian/ Alba Cortina-Pou def. Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-2
Victoria Emma/Katie Kubicz (Florida) vs. Ann Selim/Kim Gintrand, 4-5 (Unfinished)

Doubles order of finish: 2,1

Singles Results
No. 68 Andie Daniell def. No. 8 Ida Jarlskog (Florida), 6-3, 6-1
No. 78 Victoria Emma (Florida) vs. Moka Ito (Florida), 4-6, 6-4, 5-0 (Unfinished)
Alba Cortina-Pou def. Marlee Zein (Florida), 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Jacqueline Pelletier, 6-4, 6-3
Sydney Berlin (Florida) vs. Luca Fabian, 3-6, 6-0, 5-5 (Unfinished)
Ann Selim def. Katie Kubicz, 6-2, 6-4

Singles order of finish: 1,6,4,3

Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist

Overall thoughts on match…
"It was tale of two matches today. I thought we played a poor doubles point without having McCartney (Kessler) out there and I don't know that we were really there mentally. I thought we could have done much better. And then it was a slow start in singles too. But then what I told them in the lockeroom was that we always want that worker bee mentality, we always want that never quit and never give up attitude. We had to have good body language and great energy and we began to show that later in the match. The match started to turn after about an hour. I remember looking at the scoreboard and thinking wow this might be our worst lost ever at home, but then next thing you know we are coming back in there and we're a few games from turning the whole thing around. As poor as we were in doubles and perhaps in the beginning of singles, I was equally pleased with the fight and the attitude we showed to get right back in the match. It took a fantastic effort from Alabama's player at three to close us out. Obviously we are terribly disappointed but the attitude I was really happy with."

"On positives from today's match and looking forward…
"I think we are improving still. I think we had a really good weekend last weekend and you saw it today too. Sydney (Berlin) is really playing better and Victoria (Emma) is playing at a really high level now. The fact that she closed us out last week and turned it around here today makes her really difficult to play when she's competing like this. When she is this physical and is able to pick her spots to go for the big balls she is extremely tough. Tsveta (Dimitrova) was also fantastic for us.

I think the whole season we have been a little too up and down. We haven't or have very rarely had the entire team play well in one match, and I think that's cost us some 4-3 matches here or there and perhaps some of that was true today. Overall I think we are becoming a more tough, more durable and more resilient team. I'm hoping that slowly but surely we will get over that threshold and really see everyone play well and compete. Now we have a monumental task ahead of us on Sunday, it's a must win for us. This is certainly a new situation for the Gators but it's going to be fun."

On the status of McCartney Kessler and potential adjustments to lineup…
"We can't do anything as far as the lineup is concerned because we have to submit that on Tuesday. If McCartney (Kessler) can't play Sunday, this is the lineup you're going to see. She is day to day so we will see tomorrow. Tomorrow we will evaluate her and then make a decision."

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