No. 13 Gators Sweep No. 16 Washington on Sunday

Sunday, February 13

Madison, WI

10 AM

Florida Gators

Washington

No. 13 Gators Sweep No. 16 Washington on Sunday

Sunday, February 13, 2022 | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score

By: Andrew Hile

MADISON, Wis. – Florida women's tennis concluded their stay at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor National Championships with a top 20 victory, defeating No. 16 Washington 4-0 on Sunday morning.

The Gators (7-2, 0-0 SEC) got off to a strong start in the Nielsen Tennis Complex, making quick work of the Huskies in doubles competition to open with a 1-0 match lead. At the three doubles position, McCartney Kessler and Emma Shelton took down Tara Chilton and Zoey Weil with a 6-3 win.

Needing only one more victory to claim the doubles point, the No. 8 duo of Carly Briggs and Marlee Zein defeated Washington's (6-3, 0-0 PAC 12) Vanessa Wong and Hikaru Sato, 6-4, at the top doubles slot to push the Orange & Blue into the lead.

Parallel to doubles competition, the Gators raced out to an impressive start in singles play. At one singles, Kessler made quick work of Wong, defeating the Husky in straight sets: 6-1, 6-3. Shortly following the conclusion of that match, Carly Briggs managed to hold off Sato, winning the first set 6-4 before squashing a rally attempt in the second set, 6-4.

Needing only on more victory to clinch the sweep over No. 16, Sara Dahlstrom came through for the Gators. Playing in her first match of the tournament, Dahlstrom defeated Kelly Leung at six singles in a three-set thriller: 6-2, 2-6, 6-3, clinching the sweep for the Orange & Blue.

The Gators will now have 12 days before their next contest when they welcome the Baylor Bears to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Saturday, Feb. 26.

SINGLES
McCartney Kessler def. Vanessa Wong (UW): 6-1, 6-3
Alicia Dudeney vs. Sarah-Maude Fortin (UW): 6-7(3), 4-4, unf.
No. 61 Marlee Zein vs. No. 98 Nikki Zupancic (UW): 6-7(2), 6-2, unf.
Carly Briggs def. Hikaru Sato (UW): 6-4, 6-4
No. 84 Emma Shelton vs. Tara Chilton (UW): 6-7(5), 6-1, unf.
Sara Dahlstrom def. Kelly Leung (UW): 6-2, 2-6, 6-3

DOUBLES
No. 8 Carly Briggs/Marlee Zein def. Vanessa Wong/Hikaru Sato (UW): 6-4
No. 27 Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee vs. Sarah-Maude Fortin/Nikki Zupancic (UW): 5-3, unf.
McCartney Kessler/Emma Shelton def. Tara Chilton/Zoey Weil (UW): 6-3

QUOTABLES
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On his thoughts regarding the Indoor Championships…
"We are really happy with the win. I think that the doubles point was very clean and we've gotten a lot more confident in our doubles play. That is absolutely the highlight from this tournament and we're certainly happy to come out of here with a top 20 win, but overall going into this week we talked about what playing in this setting against these teams would do to test our preparation and what we do on a daily basis at home. It certainly exposed a few shortcomings that now we have a few months to address before we get to another championship."

On the remainder of the season…
"When we start the outdoor part of the season that begins on Wednesday in training for us, we need to make sure that we are better under duress, that certainly some of us have to get a lot better to handle the physical demands of the game and the mental side as well. I can see that from a forehand, backhand and serve standpoint we're plenty good to beat just about anybody. We still have a ways to go to become a mature, championship team and the good news is that we have time to hit on some things that will improve our chances when we start competing in the SEC. "

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