Florida Gators
LSU (SEC Tourn. Semifinal)
Women's Tennis Tops LSU; Advances to SEC Tourn. Final
Saturday, April 17, 2004 | Women's Tennis
Top-seeded Florida fended off a pesky and determined LSU team and posted a 4-1 victory Saturday afternoon at the Brownlee O. Currey Tennis Center to advance to the championship match of the Southeastern Conference Women's Tennis Tournament.
The Gators (21-0) make their 16th appearance in the SEC Tournament final, where they face second-seeded and host school Vanderbilt (22-2) on Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET). Florida is aiming to win its third straight SEC Tournament title and its 13th overall in the 17-year history of the event. Georgia and Mississippi are the only other schools that have won the league's postseason tournament.
The Commodores, who are ranked No. 3 nationally, defeated Kentucky 4-0 in the other semifinal match to advance to their second-ever SEC Tournament final and their first since 1996.
Florida's semifinal victory over 19th-ranked LSU was the team's 38th consecutive win. The Gator's last lost was on March 16, 2003, when Vanderbilt defeated UF 4-3 in Nashville.
The Gators appeared to be on cruise control early in the dual match, winning the doubles point in convincing fashion and taking the first set on five of the six singles courts. However, LSU mounted a fierce charge until senior Julie Rotondi doused the Tigers' hopes of an upset by securing the Gator victory with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Daysi Espinal at the No. 6 position.
The victory marked the 100th career singles win for Rotondi, who posted her second singles win in as many days after having not played a singles match since March 5 because of injury prior to this tournament. She needed to rally late in the second set after falling behind 4-2, down one break, to secure the win.
"I think I made the mistake of not closing the match out early in the second set, but when I had the sense that the scores on the other courts were getting close, I knew I had to get the job done," Rotondi said. "I was playing No. 6 singles and should be winning this match fairly easily. I needed to get myself together and pull out the win. LSU did a good job of realizing that they could have come back on the remaining three courts. Luckily, I put an end to it."
Senior Lindsay Dawaf continued UF's momentum from doubles play into her No. 4 singles match, where she polished off Amanda Mang 6-1, 6-1 in one hour and 14 minutes to give the Gators a 2-0 advantage.
"I played pretty consistent today, unlike yesterday," Dawaf said of her performance. "I played smart and didn't go for silly shots."
Meanwhile, Boglarka Berecz, Jennifer Magley, Alexis Gordon and Rotondi each appeared to be cruising to victory on their respective courts, but the Tigers started to battle back.
Berecz, who played at a career-high No. 3 for the second straight day, was able to fight off several break points and emerge with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Marina Chiarelli, earning breaks in the first and seventh games of the second set.
"The match was very competitive and exciting. This was the first day of real heat and I felt very confident in this climate even though there were some long rallies," Berecz said. "I feel good about my fitness. It doesn't matter to me which court I play on because my goal is still the same, to win. It's more competitive and I enjoy that."
Berecz's win gave the Gators a 3-0 lead and it seemed as though Magley was ready to provide the final team point on court No. 2, where she was serving, ahead 4-1 in the second set against Rocio Fantilli. But the Tiger earned her first break of the match in that game and began to excite her teammates with her emotion. Fantilli held her serve and then broke Magley again to even the set at 4-all. But Magley battled back and hit a backhand winner cross court on break point to take a 5-4 lead with the serve. Fantilli refused to fold just as Magley continued to struggle with her serve, as the Gator sophomore fell behind 15-40. Magley fought off those two break points and then two more before Fantilli finally took her serve to even the set at 5-all. It was at this time when Rotondi finally ended the dual match and play was halted, with Magley having won the first set 6-1 but the second set still undecided.
During Magley's second set battle, UF freshman Nina Suvak lost her No. 5 singles bout to Lauren Seaman 6-4, 6-3, which gave the Tigers their first and only team point of the dual match.
Rotondi's victory also helped teammate Alexis Gordon escape from a probable loss, as she was trailing on court No. 1 to Jessica Ferguson 3-6, 6-2, 5-1 when play was halted.
Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist was pleased with the way his Gators responded after the momentum had shifted in LSU's favor.
"Looking back, this might be the best thing that happens to us because we got challenged and we had to respond to it," Thornqivst said. "This was probably better than if we had won it in two hours. Today's match made us more ready for Sunday's championships. I'm real proud of our team and the way they stepped up to the challenge. For the first hour and a half, it looked like we were going to win pretty quickly, but we should have known better after having watched LSU comeback on Tennessee in their quarterfinal match yesterday. They have some real tough kids on their team who will not go away until everything is all said and done. "
In doubles action, Florida raced to victories on courts No. 2 and No. 3, while the No. 1 pair led 7-2 when play was halted. The Gator tandem of Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes topped Marina Chiarelli and Jessica Ferguson to record their 20th consecutive victory, a streak that is tied for the third longest in program history.
SEC Women's Tennis Tournament Semifinals
Brownlee O. Currey Jr. Tennis Center
Nashville, Tenn.
April 17, 2004
Team Results (Seed)
No. 1 Florida def. No. 5 LSU, 4-1
No. 2 Vanderbilt def. No. 6 Kentucky, 4-0
UF Individual Results Only
Doubles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon/Julie Rotondi (8), UF led Rocio Fantilli/Lauren Seaman, LSU 7-2 suspended
No. 2 Jennifer Magley/Zerene Reyes (20), UF def. Marina Chiarelli/Jessica Ferguson, LSU 8-2
No. 3 Boglarka Berecz/Nina Suvak, UF def. Daysi Espinal/Amanda Mang, LSU 8-2
Singles
No. 1 Jessica Ferguson (50), LSU led Alexis Gordon (1), UF 3-6, 6-2, 5-1 suspended
No. 2 Jennifer Magley (24), UF led Rocio Fantilli, LSU 6-1, 5-5 suspended
No. 3 Boglarka Berecz (99), UF def. Marina Chiarelli, LSU 6-3, 6-2
No. 4 Lindsay Dawaf (T-110), UF def. Amanda Mang (122), LSU 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 Lauren Seaman, LSU def. Nina Suvak, UF 6-4, 6-3
No. 6 Julie Rotondi (74), UF def. Daysi Espinal, LSU 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles-3, 2*; Singles-4, 3, 5, 6*
END OF REPORT
