Saturday, May 4
Lawrence, KS
2 PM
Florida Gators
2
vs
4
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Kansas
McCartney Kessler (pictured) over came an early deficit to record her 13th singles win of the season Saturday.
Florida’s Season Comes to an End in Lawrence as it Falls at No. 14 Kansas
Saturday, May 4, 2019 | Women's Tennis
Women’s tennis fights, but falls 4-2 to Big 12 Champion Jayhawks on the road in NCAA Tournament second round play.
Results (PDF)
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team (13-12, 7-6) fell 4-2 to No. 14 Kansas (21-4, 7-2) in NCAA Championship second round action Saturday afternoon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Kansas.
Taking on a ranked opponent for the 16th-straight match, Florida fought back after dropping the doubles point but didn't see the ball bounce its way late in singles as KU notched its 10th-straight victory.
Tsveta Dimitrova and No. 30 McCartney Kessler both recorded singles wins in the hard-fought loss to the Big 12 Champion Jayhawks.
Facing a 3-1 deficit, the Gators had to thread the needle to keep their NCAA hopes alive, and it looked like a path may emerge, but KU freshman Sonia Smagina wouldn't allow any further dominoes to fall as she bested fellow freshman Marlee Zein 7-5, 6-4 on court four to clinch it.
Dimitrova opened the scoring for Florida with a 6-3, 6-2 win from the five slot and injected some life into the Gator lineup. Trailing 3-1, Kessler, Zein and No. 15 Ida Jarlskog all had matches in flight with Kessler and Jarlskog holding late leads. No. 30 Kessler, dispatching her eighth ranked foe of the season, finished off her match 7-5, 6-4 just seconds before Zein's contest expired.
KU, hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997, packed nearly 500 fans into the two-year old facility and created a hostile environment for the young Gators to compete in.
Going up against a Kansas unit that had claimed 23 of its 24 possible doubles point this season, the Gators battled but couldn't breakthrough as the Jayhawks registered the opening tally. All three courts saw 6-3 verdicts, with just court two going in favor of UF. At a point in time, all three courts featured a 4-3 score, but the host Jayhawks pulled away for wins on courts one and three. Dimitrova and Jarlskog, winning their second match in NCAA play, picked up a win over No. 64 Anastasia Rychagova and Smagina.
Court three finished first as Berlin and Zein dropped a decision to Maria Toran Ribe and Malkia Ngounoue while No. 25 Victoria Emma and Kessler fell to No. 6 Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia in what was the deciding matchup on one. Both teams looked determine to secure the doubles point as all three courts featured highly-competitive play.
The back-and-forth play carried over into singles competition as the squads split the opening six sets, 3-3.
KU struck first in singles when Toran Ribes snapped Sydney Berlin's four-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. After Dimitrova narrowed the gap to 2-1, Kansas countered as Plobrung Plipuech knocked off Emma, 6-2, 6-3.
Kessler made the score 3-2 when she nabbed her fourth-straight singles win. The two-time All-SEC selection improved to 3-1 in the NCAA Tournament.
Finishing without a result, No. 15 Jarlskog and No. 13 Anastasia Rychagova played an extremely tactical and competitive match on court one as Jarlskog held a 7-5, 3-1 edge when Kansas clinched the win.
After several days of overcast skies and rainy weather, Saturday the sun was shining in the Sunflower State as the Gators and Jayhawks squared off for the first time in their respective program histories.
Kansas, fresh off its first-ever Big 12 Championship title, provided a formidable challenge to Florida's young lineup which featured two freshmen, two transfers and just two returners.
The Gators fall to 6-7 when dropping the doubles point and 18-3 all-time in NCAA second round play.
Florida's overall record in NCAA Tournament action stands at 115-30.
Florida finishes the season with 10 wins over ranked opponents as the Gators advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 37th time in the program's 38 year history.
No. 15 Jarlskog, No. 30 Kessler and No. 25 Emma and Kessler will all compete in the upcoming NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships which will occur on May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
No. 24 Florida vs. No. 14 Kansas
Doubles Results
No. 6 Janet Koch/Nina Khmelnitckaia def. No. 25 McCartney Kessler/Victoria Emma, 6-3
Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. No. 64 Anastasia Rychagova/Sonia Smagina, 6-3
Maria Toran Ribes/Malkia Ngounoue def. Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-3
Doubles order of finish: 3,2,1
Singles Results
No. 15 Ida Jarlskog (Florida) vs. No. 13 Anastasia Rychagova, 7-5, 3-1, unfinished
No. 30 McCartney Kessler (Florida) def. No. 112 Janet Koch, 7-5, 6-4
Plobrung Plipuech def. Victoria Emma (Florida), 6-2, 6-3
Sonia Smagina def. Marlee Zein (Florida), 7-5, 6-4
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Nina Khmelnitckaia, 6-3, 6-2
Maria Toran Ribes def. Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-2, 6-3
Singles order of finish: 6,5,3,2,4
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Overall thoughts on the match…
"The first 10-12 minutes of doubles, we were way too timid. But then we really settled down and had chance to get back into the doubles point. When you play away in the NCAA's against a really good team like this, you can't have 10 minutes of below par performance. I have to give credit to our players though, because we got close in doubles and fought hard in singles as well. In singles, they made a lot of balls and probably made more than I thought they were going to. They (Kansas) are really crafty and did a really good job of just hanging onto the ball. To their credit, they were able to finish some of these matches where we really had a shot at winning. The crowd here was fantastic. It really helped them today and I know playing in an environment like this will be a great learning experience for our team."
On the experience the team gained and its impact going forward…
"I think we've learned all year long. I thought our play improved as the year went on and that's always want you want to see out of a team. I think it's hard to endure some of the injuries we had in the beginning of the year and play at a really high level every week. Once we got everyone semi-healthy our play as a group really improved. There's no substitute for experience. I think you saw it with Kansas. They are a really experienced team and they played the big points, the no-ad points perhaps better than we did today. That's how you get punished in a big match like this. I'm hopeful and optimistic that this whole year of experience is going to contribute to some great growth for us as a team."
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LAWRENCE, Kan. – The No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team (13-12, 7-6) fell 4-2 to No. 14 Kansas (21-4, 7-2) in NCAA Championship second round action Saturday afternoon at the Jayhawk Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Kansas.
Taking on a ranked opponent for the 16th-straight match, Florida fought back after dropping the doubles point but didn't see the ball bounce its way late in singles as KU notched its 10th-straight victory.
Tsveta Dimitrova and No. 30 McCartney Kessler both recorded singles wins in the hard-fought loss to the Big 12 Champion Jayhawks.
Facing a 3-1 deficit, the Gators had to thread the needle to keep their NCAA hopes alive, and it looked like a path may emerge, but KU freshman Sonia Smagina wouldn't allow any further dominoes to fall as she bested fellow freshman Marlee Zein 7-5, 6-4 on court four to clinch it.
Dimitrova opened the scoring for Florida with a 6-3, 6-2 win from the five slot and injected some life into the Gator lineup. Trailing 3-1, Kessler, Zein and No. 15 Ida Jarlskog all had matches in flight with Kessler and Jarlskog holding late leads. No. 30 Kessler, dispatching her eighth ranked foe of the season, finished off her match 7-5, 6-4 just seconds before Zein's contest expired.
KU, hosting the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1997, packed nearly 500 fans into the two-year old facility and created a hostile environment for the young Gators to compete in.
Going up against a Kansas unit that had claimed 23 of its 24 possible doubles point this season, the Gators battled but couldn't breakthrough as the Jayhawks registered the opening tally. All three courts saw 6-3 verdicts, with just court two going in favor of UF. At a point in time, all three courts featured a 4-3 score, but the host Jayhawks pulled away for wins on courts one and three. Dimitrova and Jarlskog, winning their second match in NCAA play, picked up a win over No. 64 Anastasia Rychagova and Smagina.
Court three finished first as Berlin and Zein dropped a decision to Maria Toran Ribe and Malkia Ngounoue while No. 25 Victoria Emma and Kessler fell to No. 6 Janet Koch and Nina Khmelnitckaia in what was the deciding matchup on one. Both teams looked determine to secure the doubles point as all three courts featured highly-competitive play.
The back-and-forth play carried over into singles competition as the squads split the opening six sets, 3-3.
KU struck first in singles when Toran Ribes snapped Sydney Berlin's four-match winning streak with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. After Dimitrova narrowed the gap to 2-1, Kansas countered as Plobrung Plipuech knocked off Emma, 6-2, 6-3.
Kessler made the score 3-2 when she nabbed her fourth-straight singles win. The two-time All-SEC selection improved to 3-1 in the NCAA Tournament.
Finishing without a result, No. 15 Jarlskog and No. 13 Anastasia Rychagova played an extremely tactical and competitive match on court one as Jarlskog held a 7-5, 3-1 edge when Kansas clinched the win.
After several days of overcast skies and rainy weather, Saturday the sun was shining in the Sunflower State as the Gators and Jayhawks squared off for the first time in their respective program histories.
Kansas, fresh off its first-ever Big 12 Championship title, provided a formidable challenge to Florida's young lineup which featured two freshmen, two transfers and just two returners.
The Gators fall to 6-7 when dropping the doubles point and 18-3 all-time in NCAA second round play.
Florida's overall record in NCAA Tournament action stands at 115-30.
Florida finishes the season with 10 wins over ranked opponents as the Gators advanced to the NCAA Championships for the 37th time in the program's 38 year history.
No. 15 Jarlskog, No. 30 Kessler and No. 25 Emma and Kessler will all compete in the upcoming NCAA Singles & Doubles Championships which will occur on May 20-25 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.
No. 24 Florida vs. No. 14 Kansas
Doubles Results
No. 6 Janet Koch/Nina Khmelnitckaia def. No. 25 McCartney Kessler/Victoria Emma, 6-3
Ida Jarlskog/Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. No. 64 Anastasia Rychagova/Sonia Smagina, 6-3
Maria Toran Ribes/Malkia Ngounoue def. Marlee Zein/Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-3
Doubles order of finish: 3,2,1
Singles Results
No. 15 Ida Jarlskog (Florida) vs. No. 13 Anastasia Rychagova, 7-5, 3-1, unfinished
No. 30 McCartney Kessler (Florida) def. No. 112 Janet Koch, 7-5, 6-4
Plobrung Plipuech def. Victoria Emma (Florida), 6-2, 6-3
Sonia Smagina def. Marlee Zein (Florida), 7-5, 6-4
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Nina Khmelnitckaia, 6-3, 6-2
Maria Toran Ribes def. Sydney Berlin (Florida), 6-2, 6-3
Singles order of finish: 6,5,3,2,4
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Overall thoughts on the match…
"The first 10-12 minutes of doubles, we were way too timid. But then we really settled down and had chance to get back into the doubles point. When you play away in the NCAA's against a really good team like this, you can't have 10 minutes of below par performance. I have to give credit to our players though, because we got close in doubles and fought hard in singles as well. In singles, they made a lot of balls and probably made more than I thought they were going to. They (Kansas) are really crafty and did a really good job of just hanging onto the ball. To their credit, they were able to finish some of these matches where we really had a shot at winning. The crowd here was fantastic. It really helped them today and I know playing in an environment like this will be a great learning experience for our team."
On the experience the team gained and its impact going forward…
"I think we've learned all year long. I thought our play improved as the year went on and that's always want you want to see out of a team. I think it's hard to endure some of the injuries we had in the beginning of the year and play at a really high level every week. Once we got everyone semi-healthy our play as a group really improved. There's no substitute for experience. I think you saw it with Kansas. They are a really experienced team and they played the big points, the no-ad points perhaps better than we did today. That's how you get punished in a big match like this. I'm hopeful and optimistic that this whole year of experience is going to contribute to some great growth for us as a team."
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SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
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