Florida Gators

ATHENS, Ga. - Kicking off their second fall tournament of 2020, the University of Florida women's tennis team posted four singles wins and a doubles victory Friday morning at day one of the Bulldog Invitational hosted by the University of Georgia.

The Gators began the day by splitting their doubles matchups with South Carolina, but responded with four-consecutive singles victories against the Gamecocks to close out the day in Athens.

For the second straight tournament, veterans McCartney Kessler, Sydney Berlin and Marlee Zein all competed for UF along with first-year player Sara Dahlstrom.

Berlin and Dahlstrom picked up right where they had left off last time out, winning for the third time in four matches to open the season. Going up against Elise Mills and Corina Spasojevic, the Gator combo posted a convincing 6-2 win. On the other side of Florida's doubles competition, for the first time this season Kessler and Zein (3-1) fell short as they dropped a nailbiter, 7-6 (7) to the experienced duo of Mia Horvit and Megan Davies.

Florida then won all four of its opening sets in singles, setting the tone early on.

Dahlstrom, who won two of her three matches in her debut competition in Tuscaloosa earlier this month, kept her momentum going Friday as she notched an impressive 6-0, 6-0 victory over USC sophomore Gabriela Martinez.

Kessler, appearing in her first singles action of the fall campaign, showed zero signs of rust as she dispatched her opponent Megan Davis by a tally of 6-2, 6-2.

The junior Zein also added a singles win as she got by USC's Spasojevic with relative ease at 6-2, 6-1 and Berlin, despite dropping her second set, rallied back to defeat Tulenko 6-0, 4-6, 6-0 to conclude the day of competition.

Florida returns to action Saturday morning when it battles the tournament host, Georgia Bulldogs at 9 a.m. Competition kicks off with doubles and is followed immediately by singles.
 
Schedule
Friday, Oct. 23
(all times listed in ET)

Doubles
Berlin/Dahlstrom (UF) def. Mills/Spasojevic (USC) 6-2
Davies/Horvit (USC) def. Kessler/Zein (UF) 7-6(7)

Singles
Kessler (UF) def. Davies (USC), 6-2, 6-2
Zein (UF) def. Spasojevic (USC), 6-2, 6-1
Dahlstrom (UF) def. Martinez (USC), 6-0, 6-0
Berlin (UF) vs. Tulenko (USC) 6-0, 4-6, 6-0
 
Quotes from the Court
Overall thoughts on the match…
"Besides for maybe one set, we were really disciplined and I think that's why we saw some wide open scores. We saw a lot of 6-0, 6-1, and 6-2 sets and I think that was because we played really clean tennis. It looked much better than two weeks ago and we were talking before we made this drive, that we thought that we were going to look better when we competed the second time around. And judging by what we saw day one here, I think we were right in anticipating that."

On the team's competitive spirit…
"I think that sort of goes hand in hand with the determination of trying to play really clean tennis. You're competing for every point and you're not giving away anything. And when we can do that, we can play at a really high level. It takes a mighty effort, man, for somebody to beat us. Where I felt like in the past, especially on this middle day of our first tournament two weeks ago, we just gave away too many free points."

On having a smaller roster to start the fall…
"I think one, the team gets to know each other really well obviously because there's only four of them. On top of that, we pay attention to one another's habits. This weekend, one thing we really want to do is we want to have a mindset of helpfulness. I think that's one more variable that can make us gel as a team where we not only help each other compete but off the court as well, being helpful and trying to make each other play at the highest level possible this weekend. Being a small squad, it's easy to see the little things."

On McCartney Kessler making her singles debut…
"We have had some good practice sets. I think her and Sara (Dahlstrom) played a really competitive practice set on Wednesday that I think helped her get ready for today and aside from a game or two where she might have made an error, I thought she played a really clean two sets. Looking at the scores, I would have to agree. McCartney is the kind of player when she's playing well and when she's on, she can beat anybody because the ball just comes fast off both sides. In the past she's had matches where she's given too many free points away and that's punished her in the past. It was nice to see this time, the first time back in the ring if you will, that she played a really clean match. I think she's going to have a fantastic year."
 
On Sara Dahlstrom's play…
"Sara has looked really good in practice. She built a lot of confidence from that and I think she's getting used to the way we compete in college tennis not only as a team but also the attitudes. And the almost do whatever it takes attitude that players have in the SEC. She's getting used to it and becoming more comfortable. That's sort of showing in her play. She's got a big game and she's looking more confident in using her big shots."
 
Schedule
Saturday, Oct. 24
(all times listed in ET)
Doubles
Florida vs. Georgia – 9 a.m. ET
Singles
Florida vs. Georgia - to Follow Doubles

Schedule
Sunday, Oct. 25
(all times listed in ET)
Doubles
Florida vs. Kentucky – 9 a.m. ET
Singles
Florida vs. Kentucky - to Follow Doubles
 
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