Florida Gators
Ole Miss (SEC Tournament QF)
Women's Tennis Blanks Ole Miss in SEC Quarterfinals
Friday, April 16, 2004 | Women's Tennis
Top-seeded Florida defeated ninth-seeded Mississippi 4-0 in the quarterfinal round of the SEC Women's Tennis Tournament Friday at Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center.
The Gators (20-0) next face fifth-seeded and 19th-ranked LSU (18-6), which advanced to the semifinals after a thrilling 4-3 victory against fourth-seeded and 23rd-ranked Tennessee that lasted over five hours on Friday.
Florida began playing its doubles matches on schedule, but the singles portion of the match was delayed almost four hours because of the length of that first match between LSU and Tennessee. However, once the Gators found their groove the Rebels (12-11) had a hard time stopping them.
"We didn't play the best tennis I thought we could play, but we were fairly focused," UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. "It was tough with such a long wait between singles and doubles and I thought that made it difficult to play great tennis at the start of the singles matches. I saw some great play from Nina Suvak at No. 5 and it was really nice to see Julie (Rotondi) back in the singles lineup so there were some real positives from today."
After winning the doubles point for the 20th time this year, senior Julie Rotondi provided Florida with its first singles victory of the tournament, defeating Audra Adams 6-1, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes. Rotondi, who was playing her first singles match since March 5 because of injury, collected her 99th career singles wins (98-33).
"I was so relieved to be in the lineup because I thought I might have to close out my career as a doubles specialist," Rotondi said. "I've done everything I can possible do to get my body ready to play singles again and it felt great to be back out there. Fortunately, I was able to slowly get my rhythm back during the match and didn't have to play tentatively. I didn't play as well as I would have liked, but it was just great to be out there."
Florida freshman Nina Suvak then topped Virginia Tomatis 6-3, 6-3 at the No. 5 position to give the Gators a 3-0 lead. Suvak opened the match with a break and rode it to the ninth game where she broke again to take the first set. The Gator rookie then found herself down a break early in the second, but got the set back on serve in the fourth game and earned another break in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. But Tomatis broke back and was preparing to challenge before Suvak stepped up her game and earned another break in the eighth game before serving out for the second to take the match.
The Gator rookie showed no signs of jitters in her SEC Tournament debut.
"I believe in our team, I believe in myself and I believe in our coaches so I really was able to view this match just like every other one we've played this season, "Suvak said. "We have been working hard for this time of the year and we're ready."
UF sophomore Jennifer Magley provided the clinching dual match victory with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Karem Harboe at the No. 2 spot. After taking the first set with breaks in the fourth, sixth and eighth games, including that final one at love, Magley found herself trailing 3-0 in the second, down two breaks. But that's when the Gator dug deep and ripped off the final six games to earn the straight set victory.
"I had a few more errors and she stepped up her game at the start of the second set, but I knew that I had to stay focused and keep moving my feet and that's how I was able to win six games in a row to close out the match," Magley said.
Florida was in control and held the momentum on the remaining three singles courts when play was abandoned once the dual match was clinched.
Friday's victory, which was the Gator's 37th consecutive win, was Thornqvist's 150th career victory in eight years as well as his 75th win in three seasons at Florida.
For the 20th time this season the Gators captured the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead in the team scoring. UF's No. 3 pair of Boglarka Berecz and Nina Suvak raced out to a quick 4-0 lead en route to securing the 8-3 victory over Florencia Basile and Karem Harboe.
UF clinched the doubles point behind the clutch play of the No. 1 pair of Alexis Gordon and Julie Rotondi, who are ranked eighth in the country. Gordon opened the match holding serve and Chloe Carlotti followed for Ole Miss with the same. However, holding serve would become a rare feat, as eight of the last 10 games were all service breaks. Gordon held hers in the fifth game that gave the Gators a 3-2 lead and Rotondi held serve in an important 11th game, fighting off a pair of break points, to take a 7-4 lead. UF then earned its fifth break of the match, taking Virginia Tomatis' serve and the 8-4 victory to secure the doubles point for the Gators.
On court No. 2, UF's Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes were in a fierce battle against Audra Adams and Sabrina Peppl. The first game alone lasted nine minutes, with Peppl finally holding serve. UF earned the first break of the match in the fifth game, but UM broke right back to even the score at 3-all. The Gators dug deep and broke Adams in the next game before Reyes held to give UF a 5-3 advantage. Peppl held in the ensuing game, but play was halted during Magley's serve in the 10th game once the Gators had secured the doubles point.
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament Quarterfinals
Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center
Nashville, Tenn.
Friday, April 16, 2004
Quarterfinal Team Results
No. 5 LSU def. No. 4 Tennessee, 4-3
No. 1 Florida def. No. 9 Mississippi, 4-0
No. 6 Kentucky def. No. 3 Georgia, 4-1
No. 2 Vanderbilt def. No. 7 Alabama, 4-2
Complete UF Results only
Final Score: Florida 4, Mississippi 0
Doubles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon/Julie Rotondi (8), UF def. Chloe Carlotti/Virginia Tomatis (27), UM 8-4*
No. 2 Jennifer Magley/Zerene Reyes (20), UF led Audra Adams/Sabrina Peppl, UM 5-4 Magley serving at duce
No. 3 Boglarka Berecz/Nina Suvak, UF def. Florencia Basile/Karem Harboe, UM 8-3
Order of finish: 3, 1*
Singles
No. 1 Chloe Carlotti (63), UM led Alexis Gordon (1), UF 7-5, 0-4 suspended
No. 2 Jennifer Magley (24), UF def. Karem Harboe, UM 6-2, 6-3
No. 3 Boglarka Berecz (99), UF led Sabrina Peppl, UM 6-0, 2-4 suspended
No. 4 Lindsay Dawaf (T-110), UF led Florencia Basile, UM 6-4, 3-2 suspended
No. 5 Nina Suvak, UF def. Virginia Tomatis, UM 6-3, 6-3
No. 6 Julie Rotondi (74), UF def. Audra Adams, UM 6-1, 6-2
Order of finish: 6, 5, 2*
END OF REPORT
