Friday, April 8
Gainesville, Fla.
5 PM
Florida Gators
4
vs
0
Alabama
Alicia Dudeney winds up for a forehand against Alabama on Friday. (Photo by UAA Communications)
No. 15 Gators Keep Rolling with Sweep of Alabama
Friday, April 8, 2022 | Women's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida women's tennis continued their impressive run in Southeastern Conference play, as the No. 15 Gators rolled over No. 42 Alabama, 4-0, inside Linder Stadium to extend their win streak to nine matches.
The Gators (17-4, 9-2 SEC) were all business in doubles play on Friday evening. Each match began with a battle, as all three courts found themselves locked in a 2-2 draw. From there, Florida turned on the jets to pull away from the Crimson Tide (14-8, 4-6 SEC), beginning on court two with Bente Spee and Marlee Zein.
The duo, making their first appearance together in the spring, rattled off three-consecutive games to give the Gators their first doubles win of the day, defeating Anna Parkhomenko and Petra Sedlackova, 6-3. At the two doubles position, Carly Briggs and Emma Shelton cruised to a 6-2 win over the sister team of Kasia and Ola Pitak, securing the doubles point for UF.
Holding a 1-0 advantage, McCartney Kessler brought home the first singles point of the day. After dropping the first three games of the set, the graduate heated-up to claim four-straight wins and take a 4-3 lead. That's where the match would end, however, as No. 98 Loudmilla Bencheikh was forced to retire due to injury. Kessler is now a perfect 11-0 in Southeastern Conference play.
Court six would be the next match to fall the way of the Gators thanks to impressive play from Sydney Berlin. The senior put on a dominant performance to down Kasia Pitak: 6-2, 6-2, to earn her 14th singles victory of the season and improve to 6-2 in dual match play.
Freshman Alicia Dudeney made sure that Friday's match would end with an Orange & Blue sweep, playing clincher on court four. The Hove, United Kingdom, native found herself in a back-and-forth match against Anna Parkhomenko early, holding a 4-3 lead midway through the first set. The two would continue to exchange punches, leading to a 6-4 set one victory for Dudeney.
Set two was much less intense for the freshman, as Dudeney put together a strong second frame to take care of business in her match and claim the overall match for Florida behind a 6-4, 6-1 win.
The Gators will be back in action this Sunday, Apr. 10, when they welcome No. 13 Auburn to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex for a 12 p.m. ET matchup.
SINGLES
No. 15 McCartney Kessler def. No. 98 Loudmilla Bencheikh (UA): 4-3, retired
No. 64 Marlee Zein vs. Ola Pitak (UA): 4-6, 3-2, unf.
Carly Briggs vs. No. 102 Petra Sedlackova (UA): 6-2, 1-6, 0-2, unf.
Alicia Dudeney def. Anna Parkhomenko (UA): 6-4, 6-1
Sara Dahlstrom vs. Anne Marie Hiser (UA): 5-7, 3-4, unf.
Sydney Berlin def. Kasia Pitak (UA): 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 4
DOUBLES
McCartney Kessler/Alicia Dudeney vs. Loudmilla Bencheikh/Anne Marie Hiser (UA): 5-2, unf.
Bente Spee/Marlee Zein def. Anna Parkhomenko/Petra Sedlackova (UA): 6-3
Carly Briggs/Emma Shelton def. Kasia Pitak/Ola Pitak (UA): 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 3
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On Friday's aggressive doubles play…
"I was very happy that we got off to decent starts, I believe it was 2-2 in every match, but there have been times when we've lost doubles points where we've trailed from the very first moment in these matches and had to dig back. Today, we started off at least level, and then I thought we did a great job of taking off. The new pairings, I felt, became confident in their play during Wednesday's and Thursday's practices, so I was happy to see we could do it here in live action and play winning doubles. What I mean by that is we have the ability to be aggressive, the ability to use formations that help and they did a good job communicating on all three courts. I was really pleased with the tone that set for us."
On singles competition against Alabama…
I thought the three that finished their matches had strong performances, but even for McCartney (Kessler), and really all courts, there were 15-minute spells where it was really difficult for us to play because of the weather, the wind, but we did a good job of keeping it to 15 minutes. It didn't go for 30, 40 or 50 minutes. I thought that Marlee (Zein) had a good start to her match, a sort of poor ending to the first set, but then found her feet again and I felt like was in decent control by the time the match concluded. To win a championship, you have to minimize the duration of those spells and we did a good job of that. Sydney (Berlin) was clinical at six, which is nice to see, so we're very pleased."
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JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
The Gators (17-4, 9-2 SEC) were all business in doubles play on Friday evening. Each match began with a battle, as all three courts found themselves locked in a 2-2 draw. From there, Florida turned on the jets to pull away from the Crimson Tide (14-8, 4-6 SEC), beginning on court two with Bente Spee and Marlee Zein.
The duo, making their first appearance together in the spring, rattled off three-consecutive games to give the Gators their first doubles win of the day, defeating Anna Parkhomenko and Petra Sedlackova, 6-3. At the two doubles position, Carly Briggs and Emma Shelton cruised to a 6-2 win over the sister team of Kasia and Ola Pitak, securing the doubles point for UF.
Holding a 1-0 advantage, McCartney Kessler brought home the first singles point of the day. After dropping the first three games of the set, the graduate heated-up to claim four-straight wins and take a 4-3 lead. That's where the match would end, however, as No. 98 Loudmilla Bencheikh was forced to retire due to injury. Kessler is now a perfect 11-0 in Southeastern Conference play.
Court six would be the next match to fall the way of the Gators thanks to impressive play from Sydney Berlin. The senior put on a dominant performance to down Kasia Pitak: 6-2, 6-2, to earn her 14th singles victory of the season and improve to 6-2 in dual match play.
Freshman Alicia Dudeney made sure that Friday's match would end with an Orange & Blue sweep, playing clincher on court four. The Hove, United Kingdom, native found herself in a back-and-forth match against Anna Parkhomenko early, holding a 4-3 lead midway through the first set. The two would continue to exchange punches, leading to a 6-4 set one victory for Dudeney.
Set two was much less intense for the freshman, as Dudeney put together a strong second frame to take care of business in her match and claim the overall match for Florida behind a 6-4, 6-1 win.
The Gators will be back in action this Sunday, Apr. 10, when they welcome No. 13 Auburn to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex for a 12 p.m. ET matchup.
SINGLES
No. 15 McCartney Kessler def. No. 98 Loudmilla Bencheikh (UA): 4-3, retired
No. 64 Marlee Zein vs. Ola Pitak (UA): 4-6, 3-2, unf.
Carly Briggs vs. No. 102 Petra Sedlackova (UA): 6-2, 1-6, 0-2, unf.
Alicia Dudeney def. Anna Parkhomenko (UA): 6-4, 6-1
Sara Dahlstrom vs. Anne Marie Hiser (UA): 5-7, 3-4, unf.
Sydney Berlin def. Kasia Pitak (UA): 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 6, 4
DOUBLES
McCartney Kessler/Alicia Dudeney vs. Loudmilla Bencheikh/Anne Marie Hiser (UA): 5-2, unf.
Bente Spee/Marlee Zein def. Anna Parkhomenko/Petra Sedlackova (UA): 6-3
Carly Briggs/Emma Shelton def. Kasia Pitak/Ola Pitak (UA): 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 3
QUOTABLES
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On Friday's aggressive doubles play…
"I was very happy that we got off to decent starts, I believe it was 2-2 in every match, but there have been times when we've lost doubles points where we've trailed from the very first moment in these matches and had to dig back. Today, we started off at least level, and then I thought we did a great job of taking off. The new pairings, I felt, became confident in their play during Wednesday's and Thursday's practices, so I was happy to see we could do it here in live action and play winning doubles. What I mean by that is we have the ability to be aggressive, the ability to use formations that help and they did a good job communicating on all three courts. I was really pleased with the tone that set for us."
On singles competition against Alabama…
I thought the three that finished their matches had strong performances, but even for McCartney (Kessler), and really all courts, there were 15-minute spells where it was really difficult for us to play because of the weather, the wind, but we did a good job of keeping it to 15 minutes. It didn't go for 30, 40 or 50 minutes. I thought that Marlee (Zein) had a good start to her match, a sort of poor ending to the first set, but then found her feet again and I felt like was in decent control by the time the match concluded. To win a championship, you have to minimize the duration of those spells and we did a good job of that. Sydney (Berlin) was clinical at six, which is nice to see, so we're very pleased."
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,3
#1 Singles Match
12
Loudmilla Bencheikh / 0 (98/-) [UA]
30
4WR
#2 Singles Match
123
Ola Pitak / 0 [UA]
620
43UF
#3 Singles Match
1234
Petra Sedlackova / 0 (102/-) [UA]
2620
610UF
#4 Singles Match
12
Anna Parkhomenko / 0 [UA]
41
66
#5 Singles Match
123
Anne Marie Hiser / 0 [UA]
740
53UF
#6 Singles Match
12
Kasia Pitak / 0 [UA]
22
66
Order of Finish:
1,6,4
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ 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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