Florida Gators

ORLANDO, Fla. – Florida women's tennis' Carly Briggs and Sara Dahlstrom made their NCAA Singles Championship debuts on Monday afternoon at the USTA National Campus with Briggs punching her ticket to the round of 32.
 
Up against No. 30 Sydni Ratliff from Ohio State, No. 45 Briggs jumped on the Buckeye in Ratliff's second service game of the first set for the early break advantage 3-1 and extended her lead to 4-1 with a beautiful backhand winner down the line. Ratliff responded at 5-2 by winning the next three games and the first set went to a tiebreak. Briggs returned to dominance and dropped just one point in the breaker, sealing the set with an ace.
 
The momentum stayed in the hands of Briggs in the second set, as the senior broke Ratliff's serve in the first game and held serve on deuce point for the 2-0 advantage. Briggs would break once again, distancing herself at 4-1, but Ratliff responded with a break of her own. Up 5-3, the pressure applied by Briggs was too much for Ratliff on deuce point and the Buckeye's forehand went into the net, securing the victory 7-6 (1), 6-3.
 
With the victory, Briggs improved to 19-14 and tied her single season career-high in overall singles victories. The ranked win is her sixth of the season and third against a top-30 opponent.
 
Briggs advances to the round of 32 and is set to face Notre Dame's No. 65 Page Freeman. Freeman faced No. 64 Anna Arkadianou - both singles tournament alternates - in the first round and won in three sets, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.
 
No. 17 Dahlstrom was matched up against North Carolina's No. 1 seed Fiona Crawley and jumped on the Tar Heel early, breaking serve in Crawley's second service game for the 2-1 lead. The native of Sweden followed up by holding serve, utilizing a big forehand winner to secure the game, and improved the advantage to 3-1. Crawley, who entered the match with a 45-2 overall record, was down 4-3 to Dahlstrom, but won the final three games to secure the set 6-4.
 
In the second set, the junior continued to battle against the top seed. Yet, Crawley refused to allow Dahlstrom to gain ground and the Gator fell 6-4, 6-1. Dahlstrom completes her spectacular season leading Florida will 11 ranked victories and ends the year 17-8 in overall singles.
 
Joining Briggs on the courts Tuesday will be the tandem of Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee in the NCAA Doubles Championship who will be facing No. 43 Adel-Byanu Abidullina/Eliza Askarova from Delaware. Times for both matches are TBD.
 
NCAA Singles Championships | Round of 64 | May 22
No. 45 Carly Briggs (UF) def. No. 30 Sydni Ratliff (Ohio State), 7-6 (1), 6-3
No 1 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. No. 17 Sara Dahlstrom (UF), 6-4, 6-1
 
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