Sunday, May 8
Gainesville, Fla.
1 PM
Florida Gators
4
vs
1
Florida State
Florida Advances to NCAA Round of 16 for First Time Since 2017
Sunday, May 8, 2022 | Women's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida women's tennis is heading to the NCAA Super Regional for the first time since 2017 after defeating No. 35 Florida State in the regional finale, 4-1, on Sunday afternoon inside Linder Stadium.
With their victory, the No. 16 Gators (21-6, 10-3 SEC) improve to 19-4 all-time in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. The win also marks the Orange & Blue's third win over Florida State (15-11, 6-7 ACC) this season, pushing their all-time series lead to 59-5 with a 3-1 clip in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Super Regional is slated to take place next weekend on either May 13, when the Gators will meet the top-seed in the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina (26-2, 12-1 ACC), in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Tar Heels opened the tournament with a 4-0 victory over South Carolina State before taking down Southeastern Conference foe, South Carolina, 4-0 in the second round. The match is slated to take place on Friday, May 13 at 4 p.m. ET.
There was nothing slow about the start to doubles competition on Sunday afternoon, as each court for the Gators opened their match with a 1-0 lead. The doubles pairing of Bente Spee and Marlee Zein remained on fire for the Gators on court two, serving up a bagel en route to a dominant 6-0 victory over Vic Allen and Kianah Motosono.
At the top doubles position, the No. 26 duo of Alicia Dudeney and McCartney Kessler faced a tall task matching up with No. 16 Petra Hule and Anna Arkadianou of Florida State. In similar fashion to court four, the Gators raced out to a 4-0 cushion, a lead that would prove important as the Seminoles rallied back to make it a 5-3 match late in the set. Powerful serving from Dudeney made the difference for the Florida squad, as they were able to clinch the doubles point, 6-3, off of a strong serve from Dudeney and volley from Kessler.
Even with the point clinched thanks to the efforts on courts one and two, the Gators were in good shape at the three doubles slot as well. The all-junior duo of Carly Briggs and Emma Shelton were engaged in a much closer battle, but held the lead over Lesedi Jacobs and Olympe Lancelot at 5-4 when the doubles competition concluded.
The Seminoles came out swinging to start singles competition in the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, taking first sets on four courts against the Gators. Motosono helped pulled the Seminoles even with Florida, defeating Shelton: 7-5, 6-1, on court five to tie the match at one.
Freshman Dudeney responded for the Gators in perhaps the most impressive way. Matched up against Allen, whom she defeated earlier in the season on Feb. 22 at College MatchDay, the Hove, United Kingdom native fell behind by a set early, 3-6.
Dudeney didn't panic despite falling behind, adjusting her game plan in the second set to dominate Allen, 6-0. Forcing an important third set to help the Gators regain the lead, Dudeney delivered a stellar outing, downing Allen 6-0 in the third to claim the match and put the Orange & Blue in front once again.
Seconds later, No. 81 Zein extended the UF lead to 3-1 with a hard-fought win at two singles. The senior fell behind early to Arkadianou, 2-3, before rattling off four-consecutive games to take the opening set, 6-3. Zein reversed the roles in the second set, this time opening up a 3-2 lead before pulling away to win the match, 6-3.
At four singles, Sara Dahlstrom was not one of the courts to drop her opening set. Moving up in the lineup on Sunday, the sophomore was once again in control of her match, putting her foot down with a 6-1 opening set. Her opponent, Jacobs, evened the second set at one, but that would be as close as FSU would get, with Dahlstrom cruising to a 6-3 set and match victory to clinch for the seventh time during the 2022 season. Dahlstrom now boasts an impressive 15-2 record in dual match competition.
A date with the No. 1 team in the nation awaits next weekend when the Gators travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for their NCAA Super Regional matchup against North Carolina. The match is set to take place on Friday, May 13 at 4 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on the TennisOne App.
Singles
No. 12 McCartney Kessler vs. No. 3 Petra Hule: 7-5, 4-4, unf.
No. 81 Marlee Zein def. Anna Arkadianou: 6-3, 6-3
Alicia Dudeney def. Vic Allen: 3-6, 6-0, 6-0
Sara Dahlstrom def. Lesedi Jacobs: 6-1, 6-3
Kianah Motosono def. Emma Shelton: 7-5, 6-1
Sydney Berlin vs. Olympe Lancelot: 3-6, 4-4, unf.
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 2, 4
Doubles
No. 12 Alicia Dudeney/McCartney Kessler def. No. 16 Petra Hule/Anna Arkadianou (FSU): 6-3
Bente Spee/Marlee Zein def. Vic Allen/Kianah Motosono (FSU): 6-0
Carly Briggs/Emma Shelton vs. Lesedi Jacobs/Olympe Lancelot (FSU): 5-4, unf.
Order of Finish: 2, 1
Quotables
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On Sunday's match against Florida State…
"It feels really good. We've battled this second-round matchup here for a few years and I know our seniors really wanted to play well in this setting at home and I thought they did. I was really happy to see our start in doubles, that was one thing yesterday and perhaps we needed that, like a kick in the rear-end. The poor start yesterday was completely different today. We played amazing doubles, which certainly set the tone, and at that point when we win the doubles point we're really tough to play here at home. I was happy our seniors played really well."
On Bente Spee's and Marlee Zein's performances…
"I can't share with you what I told them yesterday, but you can probably tell by their play today what we thought of their play yesterday. They responded like we expect all of our athletes to do, if you play poorly you address the things you didn't do well and obviously they were determined to do diffeernetly today. The first point was a Bente poach, so immediately I knew, 'okay, this is a different team.' They're engaged, they're brave, they talk, they're lucid, so at that point I encouraged them to keep doing the things we're supposed to do and who to play and so on. They played much better today than they did yesterday."
On Marlee's singles performance…
"Marlee is really fast, okay, but she's also a shot maker. She wants to pull the trigger and play short points. Today I was really proud that she won with her legs. She didn't hit balls by this kid as much as she did roll and run and that's what she needed to do. She asked me a few times on the changeover, 'I feel like I'm pushing,' but I asked are you winning? Then why change. I was really proud to see she used her legs today and not just hit big balls by this kid. I knew Marlee and McCartney, in particular, were going to be very motivated to play well today because of our second-round losses in the past and I was just really pleased to see that they played some of their best tennis all year."
On what it means for these seniors to advance to the Super Regional…
They've hit a million balls here and there's been some heartache in this round, so I'm just really pleased. I think they came to Florida to conquer this round and have lofty goals, so it's been hard for them to have fallen in the second round in previous years. They've sort of taken it here, so one, I'm glad Sydney (Berlin) got to play and was solving her riddle there at the end, but also that they played well and that we were able to win this one for those three."
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With their victory, the No. 16 Gators (21-6, 10-3 SEC) improve to 19-4 all-time in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament. The win also marks the Orange & Blue's third win over Florida State (15-11, 6-7 ACC) this season, pushing their all-time series lead to 59-5 with a 3-1 clip in the NCAA Tournament.
The NCAA Super Regional is slated to take place next weekend on either May 13, when the Gators will meet the top-seed in the NCAA Tournament, North Carolina (26-2, 12-1 ACC), in Chapel Hill, N.C. The Tar Heels opened the tournament with a 4-0 victory over South Carolina State before taking down Southeastern Conference foe, South Carolina, 4-0 in the second round. The match is slated to take place on Friday, May 13 at 4 p.m. ET.
There was nothing slow about the start to doubles competition on Sunday afternoon, as each court for the Gators opened their match with a 1-0 lead. The doubles pairing of Bente Spee and Marlee Zein remained on fire for the Gators on court two, serving up a bagel en route to a dominant 6-0 victory over Vic Allen and Kianah Motosono.
At the top doubles position, the No. 26 duo of Alicia Dudeney and McCartney Kessler faced a tall task matching up with No. 16 Petra Hule and Anna Arkadianou of Florida State. In similar fashion to court four, the Gators raced out to a 4-0 cushion, a lead that would prove important as the Seminoles rallied back to make it a 5-3 match late in the set. Powerful serving from Dudeney made the difference for the Florida squad, as they were able to clinch the doubles point, 6-3, off of a strong serve from Dudeney and volley from Kessler.
Even with the point clinched thanks to the efforts on courts one and two, the Gators were in good shape at the three doubles slot as well. The all-junior duo of Carly Briggs and Emma Shelton were engaged in a much closer battle, but held the lead over Lesedi Jacobs and Olympe Lancelot at 5-4 when the doubles competition concluded.
The Seminoles came out swinging to start singles competition in the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, taking first sets on four courts against the Gators. Motosono helped pulled the Seminoles even with Florida, defeating Shelton: 7-5, 6-1, on court five to tie the match at one.
Freshman Dudeney responded for the Gators in perhaps the most impressive way. Matched up against Allen, whom she defeated earlier in the season on Feb. 22 at College MatchDay, the Hove, United Kingdom native fell behind by a set early, 3-6.
Dudeney didn't panic despite falling behind, adjusting her game plan in the second set to dominate Allen, 6-0. Forcing an important third set to help the Gators regain the lead, Dudeney delivered a stellar outing, downing Allen 6-0 in the third to claim the match and put the Orange & Blue in front once again.
Seconds later, No. 81 Zein extended the UF lead to 3-1 with a hard-fought win at two singles. The senior fell behind early to Arkadianou, 2-3, before rattling off four-consecutive games to take the opening set, 6-3. Zein reversed the roles in the second set, this time opening up a 3-2 lead before pulling away to win the match, 6-3.
At four singles, Sara Dahlstrom was not one of the courts to drop her opening set. Moving up in the lineup on Sunday, the sophomore was once again in control of her match, putting her foot down with a 6-1 opening set. Her opponent, Jacobs, evened the second set at one, but that would be as close as FSU would get, with Dahlstrom cruising to a 6-3 set and match victory to clinch for the seventh time during the 2022 season. Dahlstrom now boasts an impressive 15-2 record in dual match competition.
A date with the No. 1 team in the nation awaits next weekend when the Gators travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., for their NCAA Super Regional matchup against North Carolina. The match is set to take place on Friday, May 13 at 4 p.m. ET and will be streamed live on the TennisOne App.
Singles
No. 12 McCartney Kessler vs. No. 3 Petra Hule: 7-5, 4-4, unf.
No. 81 Marlee Zein def. Anna Arkadianou: 6-3, 6-3
Alicia Dudeney def. Vic Allen: 3-6, 6-0, 6-0
Sara Dahlstrom def. Lesedi Jacobs: 6-1, 6-3
Kianah Motosono def. Emma Shelton: 7-5, 6-1
Sydney Berlin vs. Olympe Lancelot: 3-6, 4-4, unf.
Order of Finish: 5, 3, 2, 4
Doubles
No. 12 Alicia Dudeney/McCartney Kessler def. No. 16 Petra Hule/Anna Arkadianou (FSU): 6-3
Bente Spee/Marlee Zein def. Vic Allen/Kianah Motosono (FSU): 6-0
Carly Briggs/Emma Shelton vs. Lesedi Jacobs/Olympe Lancelot (FSU): 5-4, unf.
Order of Finish: 2, 1
Quotables
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
On Sunday's match against Florida State…
"It feels really good. We've battled this second-round matchup here for a few years and I know our seniors really wanted to play well in this setting at home and I thought they did. I was really happy to see our start in doubles, that was one thing yesterday and perhaps we needed that, like a kick in the rear-end. The poor start yesterday was completely different today. We played amazing doubles, which certainly set the tone, and at that point when we win the doubles point we're really tough to play here at home. I was happy our seniors played really well."
On Bente Spee's and Marlee Zein's performances…
"I can't share with you what I told them yesterday, but you can probably tell by their play today what we thought of their play yesterday. They responded like we expect all of our athletes to do, if you play poorly you address the things you didn't do well and obviously they were determined to do diffeernetly today. The first point was a Bente poach, so immediately I knew, 'okay, this is a different team.' They're engaged, they're brave, they talk, they're lucid, so at that point I encouraged them to keep doing the things we're supposed to do and who to play and so on. They played much better today than they did yesterday."
On Marlee's singles performance…
"Marlee is really fast, okay, but she's also a shot maker. She wants to pull the trigger and play short points. Today I was really proud that she won with her legs. She didn't hit balls by this kid as much as she did roll and run and that's what she needed to do. She asked me a few times on the changeover, 'I feel like I'm pushing,' but I asked are you winning? Then why change. I was really proud to see she used her legs today and not just hit big balls by this kid. I knew Marlee and McCartney, in particular, were going to be very motivated to play well today because of our second-round losses in the past and I was just really pleased to see that they played some of their best tennis all year."
On what it means for these seniors to advance to the Super Regional…
They've hit a million balls here and there's been some heartache in this round, so I'm just really pleased. I think they came to Florida to conquer this round and have lofty goals, so it's been hard for them to have fallen in the second round in previous years. They've sort of taken it here, so one, I'm glad Sydney (Berlin) got to play and was solving her riddle there at the end, but also that they played well and that we were able to win this one for those three."
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:
2,1
#1 Singles Match
123
Petra Hule / 0 (3/-) [FSU]
54UF
740
#2 Singles Match
12
Anna Arkadianou / 0 [FSU]
33
66
#3 Singles Match
123
Vic Allen / 0 [FSU]
600
366
#4 Singles Match
12
Lesedi Jacobs / 0 [FSU]
14
66
#5 Singles Match
12
Kianah Motosono / 0 [FSU]
76
51
#6 Singles Match
123
Olympe Lancelot / 0 [FSU]
64UF
340
Order of Finish:
5,3,2,4
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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