Celebrating 50 Years of Florida Women's Tennis
Andrew Hile
6/15/2022
The University of Florida is celebrating 50 years of women's athletics, and Gators women's tennis holds the honor of being one of the five original programs on campus, alongside swimming, track, golf and gymnastics - to transition into a varsity team from club status after Title IV was signed into law.
One of the most stories programs at the University of Florida, the Gators boast seven national championships, 39 NCAA tournament appearances out of a possible 40, three NCAA singles champions, four NCAA doubles champions and nine SEC Players of the Year.
The Gators have accomplished greatness from their very first serve and continue to make history on the court. After completing it's 2021-22 season, here is a look back at what Florida women's tennis has accomplished.
NCAA Championships
Florida's first national title in women's tennis came in 1992 when the Orange & Blue completed a perfect 30-0 season to capture the crown. Since then, Florida has won six more championships (1996, 1998, 2003, 2011, 2012, 2017), giving the program seven, the second-best in the NCAA only trailing Stanford.
Throughout the history of the program, the Gators have qualified for 39 NCAA Tournaments out of a possible 40, including a perfect 23-0 record in the opening round. Individually, three Gators have claimed NCAA singles titles while four doubles squads have emerged with championships on the doubles side.
NCAA Individual Champions
Florida All-Americans
Gallery: WTN All Americans
Judy Acker - 1976
Sherry Acker – 1977, 1978
Jillian Alexander – 1990, 1991 (S&D)
Megan Alexander - 2007, 2008 (D)
Nicole Arendt – 1988 (S&D), 1989 (S&D), 1990 (S&D), 1991 (S&D)
Brooke Austin – 2015 & 2016 (S&D) & 2017 (D)
Amanda Basica - 1997
Whitney Benik - 2005 (D)
Marrit Boonstra - 2008 (D), 2009, 2010 (D)
Csilla Borsanyi - 2007
Jill Brenner - 1993
Dawn Buth – 1995, 1996 (S&D), 1997 (S&D), 1998 (S&D)
Alexandra Cercone – 2010 (D)
Halle Cioffi – 1988
Kim Clingan - 1984
Jill Craybas – 1995, 1996
Holly Danforth – 1988, 1990
Anna Danilina - 2017 (S&D), 2018 (S)
Lindsay Dawaf - 2002 (S&D)
Cissie Donigan - 1981
Ingelise Driehuis - 1989
Lauren Embree – 2010, 2011, 2012 (S&D), 2013
Andrea Farley – 1990, 1991, 1993
Lolita Frangulyan - 2005 (D)
Cathy Goodrich – 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990
Alexis Gordon – 2003, 2004 (S&D), 2006
Stephanie Hazlett – 1999, 2000
Jill Hetherington – 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987
Kathy Holton - 1983
Olivia Janowicz – 2014
Ida Jarlksog - 2019
Kourtney Keegan – 2015, 2016 (D) , 2017 (D)
McCartney Kessler - 2021 (S&D)
Josie Kuhlman - 2015
Whitney Laiho – 1999, 2000 (S&D), 2001 (S&D)
Jessica Lehnhoff – 1999 (D), 2000 (S&D), 2001 (S&D), 2002 (S&D)
Holly Lloyd – 1992
Jennifer Magley – 2003 (D), 2004, 2005 (S&D)
Jan Martin – 1985, 1986
Joanna Mather – 2012 (D)
Divya Merchant – 1996, 1997
Brianna Morgan – 2014
Ingrid Neel - 2017 (D)
Siobhan Nicholson – 1988, 1989
Stephanie Nickitas - 1996 (D), 1997 (D), 1998 (S&D), 1999 (S&D)
Sofie Oyen – 2012 (D), 2013
Joyce Portman – 1979, 1980
Julie Pressly – 1978, 1980
Lisa Raymond – 1992, 1993
Zerene Reyes – 2003 (D), 2005 (S&D)
Julie Rotondi – 2004 (D)
Diana Srebrovic - 2006, 2007
Shaun Stafford – 1987, 1988
M.C. White - 1997
Tammy Whittington – 1985, 1987
Allie Will – 2010 (S&D). 2011 (S&D), 2012 (S&D)
Belinda Woolcock - 2016, 2017
Marlee Zein - 2021 (D)
(Honors singles unless noted)
SEC Success
Throughout the history of the program, the Gators have been a staple atop the Southeastern Conference. The Orange & Blue boast an impressive 29 outright SEC titles to go along with 20 SEC tournament championships. Individually, nine athletes have been named the SEC Player of the Year in addition to 190 All-SEC honors.
SEC Championships
1980
1981
1982
1984
1985
1986
1987
1988
1990
1991
1992
1993
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2001
2003
2004
2006
2007
2008
2010
2011
2012
2013
2015
2016
SEC Tournament Championships
1982
1990
1991
1992
1993
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2010
2011
2012
2013
2016
SEC Players of the Year
Gallery: SEC Players of the Year
Academics
The Gators have also been sure to take care of business in the classroom, earning every ITA All-Academic Team award (team GPA of 3.2 or higher) since it's creation in 2004 in addition to 29 ITA Scholar-Athlete honors. Seven athletes have also been named COSIDA First-Team Academic All-Americans.
