LAKE NONA, Fla. – No. 23
McCartney Kessler, No. 85
Marlee Zein and No. 91
Victoria Emma all posted singles wins as the University of Florida women's tennis team wrapped up competition at the USTA Fall Ranked Spotlight on Sunday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.
The junior Emma finished tied for the team lead with three singles victories on the weekend.
Emma cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Oklahoma State's Dariya Detkovshaya Sunday morning. Taking on Miami's Selma Cadar, Zein registered a win at 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 while Kessler knocked off Cadar's classmate Yuda Ito, 6-0, 6-2.
Both Kessler and Zein got off to slow starts with losses on Friday, but both won their final two matches of the tournament to finish at 2-2.
The day began on the doubles court as Florida participated in the second and final round. Taking on its second top 30 duo of the tournament, No. 6 Emma and Kessler fell in a tight one, 7-5 to Tennessee's Kaitlin Staines and Tenika McGiffin, the nation's 24
th ranked doubles duo.
Heading into a tournament that featured nine teams that all finished in the top 25 of the final USTA/Tennis Channel poll a season ago, it was clear that the Gators would be up against some stiff competition. The field certainly lived up to the billing, as Florida altogether battled seven ranked singles players and two ranked doubles teams.
After starting 1-3 in singles play, Florida got stronger each day, finishing with a 10-7 record overall.
Final Singles Bracket
Final Doubles Bracket
Up Next
The Gators return to action next weekend, Oct. 4 – 6, when sophomore
Sydney Berlin and senior
Tsveta Dimitrova travel to Fort Myers to compete in the Bedford Cup.
Quotes from the Court – Assistant Coach Lauren Embree
Overall thoughts on the day…
"All three players came out with a great attitude and fight. When it's the third day in a tournament sometimes you won't feel your best physically, but they did a good job of battling through that. We have a lot of positives from the weekend that we will continue to build on in practice this week and moving forward."
Results | Sunday, Sept. 29
Doubles Main Draw Round 2
No. 24 Kaitlin Staines & Tenika McGiffin (UT), def. No. 6
Victoria Emma and
McCartney Kessler, 7-5
Singles Compass Draw
No. 23
McCartney Kessler vs. Yuda Ito (Miami), 6-0, 6-2
No. 85
Marlee Zein vs. Selma Cadar (Miami), 6-3, 1-6, 10-8
No. 91
Victoria Emma vs. Dariya Detkovshaya (Oklahoma St.), 6-2, 6-1
Results | Saturday, Sept. 28
Singles Main Draw Round 3 (East-West)
Layne Sleeth def. No. 8 Anna Rogers (NC State), 6-2, 6-2
Singles Back Draw Round 3 (East-West)
No. 91
Victoria Emma def. Johanna Silva (UT), 6-4, ret.
Singles Back Draw Round 3 (South)
No. 23
McCartney Kessler def. Catherine Gulihur (Oklahoma St.), 6-0, 6-2
No. 85 Marlee Zein def. Alana Wolfberg (Oklahoma St.), 7-6(0), 6-2
Singles Main Draw Round 4 (East-West)
No. 79 Shiori Fukuda (Ohio State) def.
Layne Sleeth, 3-2, ret.
Singles Back Draw Round 4 (East-West)
No. 40 Alana Smith (NC State) def. No. 91
Victoria Emma, 7-5, 6-1
Results | Friday, Sept. 27
Doubles Main Draw Round 1
No. 27 Catherine Gulihur and Alana Wolfberg (Oklahoma St.) def. No. 6
McCartney Kessler and
Victoria Emma, 7-6 (3)
Layne Sleeth and
Marlee Zein def. Jaeda Daniel and Adriana Reami (NC State), 6-4
Singles Main Draw Round 1
Nandini Sharma (UCF) def. No. 91
Victoria Emma, 6-1, 6-3
Sofia Munera (UVA) def. No. 85
Marlee Zein, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3)
Selma Cadar (Miami) def. No. 23
McCartney Kessler, 7-5, 5-7, 6-2
Layne Sleeth def. No. 77 Amber O'Dell (UVA), 6-3, 6-0
Singles Main Draw Round 2
No. 91
Victoria Emma def. Irina Cantos (Ohio State), 6-4, 6-3
No. 36 Isabelle Boulais (Ohio State) def. No. 85
Marlee Zein, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
No. 84 Adriana Reami (NC State) def. No. 23
McCartney Kessler, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3
Layne Sleeth def. No. 61 Kolie Allen (Ohio State), 6-2, 6-2
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