Friday, February 11
Madison, WI
10 AM ET
Florida Gators
2
vs
4
Virginia
No. 7 Virginia Hands Florida First Loss of Season at ITA Indoor Championships
Friday, February 11, 2022 | Women's Tennis
MADISON, Wis. – Florida women's tennis suffered their first loss of the season on Friday afternoon, falling to Intercollegiate Tennis Association No. 7 Virginia, 4-2, in the opening round of the Indoor Team National Championships.
The match started with no shortage of drama in the doubles competition. Virginia (6-0, 0-0 ACC) quickly took a 1-0 doubles lead, as the No. 13 Gators' (6-1, 0-0 SEC) duo of No. 6 Carly Briggs and Marlee Zein fell to Amber O'Dell and Emma Navarro, 1-6.
Needing to claim both remaining doubles matchups to earn the point, McCartney Kessler and Emma Shelton did their part. Finding themselves in a back-and-forth affair with Hibah Shaikh and Sofia Munera, the pair battled into a tiebreaker after the set reached a 6-6 score. Kessler and Shelton wasted no time in gaining the lead, racing for a 7-3 tiebreak win and 7-6 match victory.
With the doubles point tied at one a-piece, all eyes turned to the two doubles slot and No. 27 Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee. In similar fashion to Kessler and Shelton, the freshman pair was locked into an intense match with Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash that also entered a tiebreaker at 6-6. Showing impressive composure, the duo faced three opposing match points, overcoming each of them before eventually winning the tiebreak, 10-8, and giving UF the doubles point.
Holding a 1-0 lead heading into singles competition, Florida opened with first set victories from Kessler, who was facing off with defending NCAA single champion Emma Navarro, Dudeney, Zein and Briggs. Zein, playing in the three singles position, would open with a strong 6-3 opening set. Facing off with No. 28 Subhash, the Cavalier would battle back to sweep No. 61 Zein in the second set, 6-0, before the senior Gator would put her away for good, ending with a dominant 6-2 third set.
As a team, the Gators were unable to overcome a strong surge from Virginia in the remaining singles matches, as the Cavaliers took the 4-2 match victory.
Florida will continue competition at the ITA Indoor Team Championships tomorrow morning, Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. ET with a matchup against No. 11 Ohio State.
SINGLES
No. 45 Emma Navarro (UVA) def. McCartney Kessler: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Alicia Dudeney vs. No. 54 Elaine Chervinsky (UVA): 6-2, 4-6, 3-5 unf.
No. 61 Marlee Zein def. No. 28 Natasha Subhash (UVA): 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
Sofia Munera def. No. 84 Emma Shelton: 6-1, 6-3
Sara Ziodato (UVA) def. Carly Briggs: 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Hibah Shaikh (UVA) def. Sydney Berlin: 6-4, 7-5
DOUBLES
Amber O'Dell/Emma Navarro (UVA) def. No. 6 Carly Briggs/Marlee Zein: 6-1
No. 27 Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee def. Elaine Chervinsky/Natasha Subhash (UVA): 7-6(8)
McCartney Kessler/Emma Shelton def. Hibah Shaikh/Sofia Munera (UVA): 7-6(3)
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On today's match with Virginia…
"It was a really, really tough match. Our effort was amazing and I thought we played a really good doubles point. Our two team, the two freshmen, showed great poise to get the doubles point for us to start. We are perhaps not playing our best tennis because this first match was very difficult for us here, playing on fast indoor courts. We were able to win four first sets and I must give huge credit to Virginia who continued to batter us with big ground strokes. It was hard for us to get depth at times because they were coming after us with these flattening ground strokes. We've got to give a lot of credit to Virginia."
On the takeaways moving forward…
"I think we learned a lot. In our meeting after we discussed some things that we need to improve on for tomorrow's match and in these events, you have to have short memories, because tomorrow we play another top 10 team that we've got to be on our p's and q's to get it done. I think we did learn a lot from today and I look forward to seeing this team. We're very hungry, honestly, and we know what our goals are at the end of the road. Today's going to be something where we learned a lot and hopefully we can show improvement tomorrow."
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The match started with no shortage of drama in the doubles competition. Virginia (6-0, 0-0 ACC) quickly took a 1-0 doubles lead, as the No. 13 Gators' (6-1, 0-0 SEC) duo of No. 6 Carly Briggs and Marlee Zein fell to Amber O'Dell and Emma Navarro, 1-6.
Needing to claim both remaining doubles matchups to earn the point, McCartney Kessler and Emma Shelton did their part. Finding themselves in a back-and-forth affair with Hibah Shaikh and Sofia Munera, the pair battled into a tiebreaker after the set reached a 6-6 score. Kessler and Shelton wasted no time in gaining the lead, racing for a 7-3 tiebreak win and 7-6 match victory.
With the doubles point tied at one a-piece, all eyes turned to the two doubles slot and No. 27 Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee. In similar fashion to Kessler and Shelton, the freshman pair was locked into an intense match with Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash that also entered a tiebreaker at 6-6. Showing impressive composure, the duo faced three opposing match points, overcoming each of them before eventually winning the tiebreak, 10-8, and giving UF the doubles point.
Holding a 1-0 lead heading into singles competition, Florida opened with first set victories from Kessler, who was facing off with defending NCAA single champion Emma Navarro, Dudeney, Zein and Briggs. Zein, playing in the three singles position, would open with a strong 6-3 opening set. Facing off with No. 28 Subhash, the Cavalier would battle back to sweep No. 61 Zein in the second set, 6-0, before the senior Gator would put her away for good, ending with a dominant 6-2 third set.
As a team, the Gators were unable to overcome a strong surge from Virginia in the remaining singles matches, as the Cavaliers took the 4-2 match victory.
Florida will continue competition at the ITA Indoor Team Championships tomorrow morning, Feb. 12, at 10 a.m. ET with a matchup against No. 11 Ohio State.
SINGLES
No. 45 Emma Navarro (UVA) def. McCartney Kessler: 3-6, 6-4, 6-2
Alicia Dudeney vs. No. 54 Elaine Chervinsky (UVA): 6-2, 4-6, 3-5 unf.
No. 61 Marlee Zein def. No. 28 Natasha Subhash (UVA): 6-3, 0-6, 6-2
Sofia Munera def. No. 84 Emma Shelton: 6-1, 6-3
Sara Ziodato (UVA) def. Carly Briggs: 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Hibah Shaikh (UVA) def. Sydney Berlin: 6-4, 7-5
DOUBLES
Amber O'Dell/Emma Navarro (UVA) def. No. 6 Carly Briggs/Marlee Zein: 6-1
No. 27 Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee def. Elaine Chervinsky/Natasha Subhash (UVA): 7-6(8)
McCartney Kessler/Emma Shelton def. Hibah Shaikh/Sofia Munera (UVA): 7-6(3)
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On today's match with Virginia…
"It was a really, really tough match. Our effort was amazing and I thought we played a really good doubles point. Our two team, the two freshmen, showed great poise to get the doubles point for us to start. We are perhaps not playing our best tennis because this first match was very difficult for us here, playing on fast indoor courts. We were able to win four first sets and I must give huge credit to Virginia who continued to batter us with big ground strokes. It was hard for us to get depth at times because they were coming after us with these flattening ground strokes. We've got to give a lot of credit to Virginia."
On the takeaways moving forward…
"I think we learned a lot. In our meeting after we discussed some things that we need to improve on for tomorrow's match and in these events, you have to have short memories, because tomorrow we play another top 10 team that we've got to be on our p's and q's to get it done. I think we did learn a lot from today and I look forward to seeing this team. We're very hungry, honestly, and we know what our goals are at the end of the road. Today's going to be something where we learned a lot and hopefully we can show improvement tomorrow."
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
1,3,2
#1 Singles Match
123
Emma Navarro / 0 (45/-) [VA]
366
642
#2 Singles Match
1234
Elaine Chervinsky / 0 (54/-) [VA]
265UF
6430
#3 Singles Match
123
Natasha Subhash / 0 (28/-) [VA]
362
606
#4 Singles Match
12
Sofia Munera / 0 [VA]
66
13
#5 Singles Match
123
Sara Ziodato / 0 [VA]
466
613
#6 Singles Match
12
Hibah Shaikh / 0 [VA]
67
45
Order of Finish:
4,3,6,5,1
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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