Friday, February 14
Gainesville, FL
5 PM
Florida Gators
6
vs
1
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UNF
Junior McCartney Kessler and sophomore Marlee Zein played together for the first time Friday and produced a victory.
Gators Hold Serve in Home Opener
Friday, February 14, 2020 | Women's Tennis
No. 24 Women’s tennis takes out UNF 6-1 Friday night.
Results
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Playing its first home match of the season Friday evening, the No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team cruised to a 6-1 victory over visiting North Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida fell behind early in doubles but surged back to claim the point and its momentum spilled over on over into singles where it posted wins on the first three courts to clinch the match. Marlee Zein, Sydney Berlin, Ida Jarlskog, Victoria Emma and Tsveta Dimitrova all recorded victories.
It was the redshirt-senior Dimitrova who would clinch it from court six and hand the Ospreys their first loss of the 2020 campaign.
For the first time this season Florida began the match by seizing the doubles point. With a new-look lineup, Florida posted victories on courts two and three. Playing for the first time together, Berlin and Emma fell behind 2-1 but stormed back to win 6-3. McCartney Kessler and Zein fought hard and won in a tie break, 7-5.
The Gators' strong play continued in singles where they nabbed wins in five of the opening sets.
From court four, Zein opened the singles scoring with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Not long after, Berlin posted a 6-0, 6-3 winner from the fifth slot. The left-handed sophomore cruised in set one but was met with some resistance in set two. Berlin dialed it in though and picked up her first win of the season.
Dimitrova recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sean Lodzki, and with the teams electing to play it out, Jarlskog added UF's fifth point with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 win against Constanza Gorches. Dimitrova and Jarlskog have collected two wins each through the Gators first four matches.
Both the remaining matches would go to third set tiebreaks.
Despite a 6-0 win in set one, No. 52 Kessler was tripped by Lucia Montano late in her match and dropped a 6-0, 5-7 (7-10) decision.
Emma showed great resiliency to erase a deficit and notch a gritty 6-7, 7-6 (10-8) win over Ana Paula Melilo to conclude the night.
The Gators improve to 41-2 all time in home openers and 2-0 against UNF.
Up Next
Saturday, Feb. 22 | 10 a.m. ET
No. 24 Florida vs. Georgia State
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex | Gainesville, Fla.
No. 24 Florida vs. UNF
Doubles Results
Ana Paulo Melio / Lucia Montano def. Ida Jarlskog / Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-1
McCartney Kessler / Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Kendall Nash / Constanza Gorches, 7-5
Victoria Emma / Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Valentina Mariotto/Sean Lodzki, 6-3
Doubles order of finish: 1,3,2
Singles Results
Lucia Montano def. No. 52 McCartney Kessler (Florida), 0-6, 7-5 (10-7)
Victoria Emma (Florida) def. Ana Paula Melilo, 6-7, 7-6 (10-8)
Ida Jarlskog (Florida) def. Constanza Gorches, 6-1, 6-2
Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Valentina Mariotto, 6-1, 6-3
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Kendall Nash, 6-0, 6-3
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Sean Lodzki, 6-4, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 4,5,6,3,1,2
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On setting the tone with the doubles point...
"It was interesting, our two new pairings got the two wins for us. Our number ones, it was their first time playing at No. 1. I think they played a little tentative and when you play that way at No. 1 you're going to get punished and that certainly happened today. At two and three we made some good adjustments, I thought we made them play whereas in the past I thought we had not served or returned really well on our doubles courts. I think that is why we had dropped some doubles points yo know, not only in this young season, but I thought we were victims of that last season as well. Today we were much better. Talking about our new pairings, I was really pleased with that. We talked about some things after Michigan and I think our players have made a conscious decision to work on it and I think it's really helped.
In singles, I must say there was some good tennis on some of these courts. We had Sydney come out with a really strong start and hold on there at the end, but she kept her composure. It was good to see that and then Tsveta and Victoria both had to do some tactical changes in the middle of their matches. Tsvet's was in the middle of her first set and it helped her sort of sail away with it I thought, and then Victoria really made a couple of changes at the end of her match and was able to turn it around. There were a lot of little things in this one, not just the score, but you know underneath there were a lot of little details that I think were very positive for us.
On playing at home for the first time this season…
"It's always fun to play at home. It's too bad that it was cold but it's always better to sleep in your own bed the night before and play at a place where we practice all the time and train. It's a great atmosphere always and a great venue for college tennis with these six courts in a row. So we are really happy to be home.
On adjustments the team will need to make with conference play right around the corner…
"We can become a better doubles team even though we won today. We need to have it to where we have all three teams playing together at a high level at the same time. Doubles, we are going to continue to hone in on a few things here and then keep training in singles the way we have been. Those little things we have been trying to do in practice, we will continue to do and our goal is to build on it."
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Playing its first home match of the season Friday evening, the No. 24 University of Florida women's tennis team cruised to a 6-1 victory over visiting North Florida at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida fell behind early in doubles but surged back to claim the point and its momentum spilled over on over into singles where it posted wins on the first three courts to clinch the match. Marlee Zein, Sydney Berlin, Ida Jarlskog, Victoria Emma and Tsveta Dimitrova all recorded victories.
It was the redshirt-senior Dimitrova who would clinch it from court six and hand the Ospreys their first loss of the 2020 campaign.
For the first time this season Florida began the match by seizing the doubles point. With a new-look lineup, Florida posted victories on courts two and three. Playing for the first time together, Berlin and Emma fell behind 2-1 but stormed back to win 6-3. McCartney Kessler and Zein fought hard and won in a tie break, 7-5.
The Gators' strong play continued in singles where they nabbed wins in five of the opening sets.
From court four, Zein opened the singles scoring with a dominant 6-1, 6-2 win to improve to 2-0 on the young season. Not long after, Berlin posted a 6-0, 6-3 winner from the fifth slot. The left-handed sophomore cruised in set one but was met with some resistance in set two. Berlin dialed it in though and picked up her first win of the season.
Dimitrova recorded a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sean Lodzki, and with the teams electing to play it out, Jarlskog added UF's fifth point with a commanding 6-1, 6-2 win against Constanza Gorches. Dimitrova and Jarlskog have collected two wins each through the Gators first four matches.
Both the remaining matches would go to third set tiebreaks.
Despite a 6-0 win in set one, No. 52 Kessler was tripped by Lucia Montano late in her match and dropped a 6-0, 5-7 (7-10) decision.
Emma showed great resiliency to erase a deficit and notch a gritty 6-7, 7-6 (10-8) win over Ana Paula Melilo to conclude the night.
The Gators improve to 41-2 all time in home openers and 2-0 against UNF.
Up Next
Saturday, Feb. 22 | 10 a.m. ET
No. 24 Florida vs. Georgia State
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex | Gainesville, Fla.
No. 24 Florida vs. UNF
Doubles Results
Ana Paulo Melio / Lucia Montano def. Ida Jarlskog / Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida), 6-1
McCartney Kessler / Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Kendall Nash / Constanza Gorches, 7-5
Victoria Emma / Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Valentina Mariotto/Sean Lodzki, 6-3
Doubles order of finish: 1,3,2
Singles Results
Lucia Montano def. No. 52 McCartney Kessler (Florida), 0-6, 7-5 (10-7)
Victoria Emma (Florida) def. Ana Paula Melilo, 6-7, 7-6 (10-8)
Ida Jarlskog (Florida) def. Constanza Gorches, 6-1, 6-2
Marlee Zein (Florida) def. Valentina Mariotto, 6-1, 6-3
Sydney Berlin (Florida) def. Kendall Nash, 6-0, 6-3
Tsveta Dimitrova (Florida) def. Sean Lodzki, 6-4, 6-1
Singles order of finish: 4,5,6,3,1,2
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On setting the tone with the doubles point...
"It was interesting, our two new pairings got the two wins for us. Our number ones, it was their first time playing at No. 1. I think they played a little tentative and when you play that way at No. 1 you're going to get punished and that certainly happened today. At two and three we made some good adjustments, I thought we made them play whereas in the past I thought we had not served or returned really well on our doubles courts. I think that is why we had dropped some doubles points yo know, not only in this young season, but I thought we were victims of that last season as well. Today we were much better. Talking about our new pairings, I was really pleased with that. We talked about some things after Michigan and I think our players have made a conscious decision to work on it and I think it's really helped.
In singles, I must say there was some good tennis on some of these courts. We had Sydney come out with a really strong start and hold on there at the end, but she kept her composure. It was good to see that and then Tsveta and Victoria both had to do some tactical changes in the middle of their matches. Tsvet's was in the middle of her first set and it helped her sort of sail away with it I thought, and then Victoria really made a couple of changes at the end of her match and was able to turn it around. There were a lot of little things in this one, not just the score, but you know underneath there were a lot of little details that I think were very positive for us.
On playing at home for the first time this season…
"It's always fun to play at home. It's too bad that it was cold but it's always better to sleep in your own bed the night before and play at a place where we practice all the time and train. It's a great atmosphere always and a great venue for college tennis with these six courts in a row. So we are really happy to be home.
On adjustments the team will need to make with conference play right around the corner…
"We can become a better doubles team even though we won today. We need to have it to where we have all three teams playing together at a high level at the same time. Doubles, we are going to continue to hone in on a few things here and then keep training in singles the way we have been. Those little things we have been trying to do in practice, we will continue to do and our goal is to build on it."
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
%20(1).png&width=32&height=32&type=webp)
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Lucia Montano / 0 [UNF]
0710
657
#2 Singles Match
123
Ana Paula Melilo / 0 [UNF]
768
6710
#3 Singles Match
12
Constanza Gorches / 0 [UNF]
12
66
#4 Singles Match
12
Valentina Mariotto / 0 [UNF]
12
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Kendall Nash / 0 [UNF]
03
66
#6 Singles Match
12
Sean Lodzki / 0 [UNF]
41
66
Order of Finish:
4,5,6,3,1,2
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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