COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Despite numerous rain delays over the past two days, Florida women's tennis put together a dominant performance on Sunday evening to defeat Arizon, 4-0, at the ITA Kickoff Weekend opening-round on the campus of Texas A&M.
No. 20 Florida (2-0, 0-0 SEC) will advance to play No. 4 Texas A&M (4-0, 0-0 SEC) on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET in Waco, Texas. The matches will take place at the Hawkins Indoor Tennis Center on the campus of Baylor.
The Gators came out of the delays ready to play, immediately taking controls in doubles competition. The No. 58 team of
Rachel Gailis and
Bente Spee made quick work of Reece Carter and Kayla Wilkins on court two, 6-1.
Needing just one more victory to secure the doubles point,
Carly Briggs and
Alicia Dudeney would answer the call on court one. The pair found themselves in a battle early with Parker Fry and Salma Ziouti, seeing a 2-2 stalemate through four games. The tie wouldn't last long, however, as the Gators put together four-consecutive games to take a 6-2 victory and win the doubles point.
With three points remaining to clinch the win for the Orange & Blue,
Sara Dahlstrom put on a clinic on court four, defeating Carter in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0, to extend Florida's advantage to 2-0. At the five singles position, Gailis found herself in a tight matchup early that saw the games evened at two in the first set. The freshman was able to pull away at the end, claiming a 6-4 first set, before racing away for a 6-1 second set and match victory.
Multiple courts were in position to clinch the match, but Briggs' strong effort at the top position would solidify their spot in Monday's regional title matchup. The Calhoun, Ga., native opened with a 6-0 bagel and followed-up with a 6-2 second effort, giving UF the 4-0 sweep.
The Gators were leading on all remaining courts as well, not losing an opening set to the Wildcats.
Quotes from the Court
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
"I was very impressed with the team. We talked a little bit yesterday about handling the waiting game and obviously it ended up being more than just one day, almost two days, and so I was curious to see how we were going to look when we warmed-up and started play. Our players didn't miss a beat. We played very aggressively in doubles and then started strong on almost every court in singles. I really like this team. It's a tough team, but it's also a team with a bunch of ball-strikers. We're starting to learn when to hold-on to the ball and when to pull the trigger and I'm excited to see what we can do against Texas A&M tomorrow because I think there's a lot of upside to this team."
Singles
Carly Briggs def. Midori Castillo-Meza (Arizona): 6-0, 6-2
Alicia Dudeney vs. Salma Ziouti (Arizona): 6-2, 3-4, unf.
No. 63
Anastasia Sysoeva vs. Kayla Wilkins (Arizona): 6-1, 5-3, unf.
Sara Dahlstrom def. Reece Carter (Arizona): 6-1, 6-0
Rachel Gailis def. Parker Fry (Arizona): 6-4, 6-1
Emily De Oliveira vs. Tanvi Narendran (Arizona): 6-4, 1-3
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 1
Doubles
Carly Briggs/
Alicia Dudeney def. Parker Fry/Salma Ziouti (Arizona): 6-2
No. 58
Rachel Gailis/
Bente Spee def. Reece Carter/Kayla Wilkins (Arizona): 6-1
Emma Shelton/
Sophie Williams vs. Belen Nevenhoven/Alexa Ryngler (Arizona): 4-4, unf.
Order of Finish: 2, 1
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