Florida advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships with an impressive 4-1 victory over Vanderbilt late Thursday evening at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center.

The dual match started a couple hours late due to a slight rain delay that opened the Round of 16 matches, followed by great tennis throughout the afternoon, as the sixth-seeded Gators (23-2) topped the 11^th-seeded Commodores (20-6) close to midnight eastern standard time.

Florida plays No. 3 seed and defending NCAA champion Georgia Tech (22-5) on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in the quarterfinal round. The Yellow Jackets, who defeated Texas 4-2 in their round of 16 match, feature five players who were instrumental in Georgia Tech’s title run last season. Saturday will be the first-ever match between the Gators and Yellow Jackets.

On Thursday, the Gators continued their doubles dominance and captured the initial point of the dual match, a feat they have accomplished in every contest this season, as the No. 3 and the No. 1 doubles teams notched victories.

“I thought we played really, really well today, especially on the doubles courts,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We were tough and sharp at number 1 doubles and extremely sharp at number 3. Today, the depth of our lineup in singles and doubles really played a key role. Our players at the 4, 5 and 6 spots in singles really helped turn what could have been a long match that lasted into the night, into a short, sweet contest.”

Florida’s No. 3 pair of Julia Cohen (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Anastasia Revzina (Russia) led the Gators with a speedy 8-1 victory over Caroline Ferrell and Keilly Ulery to post their 20^th consecutive win and remain undefeated the season. Cohen and Revzina just missed the bagel win when the Commodores earned a break in the seventh game.

“Playing doubles with Julia is amazing, I just don’t know of another word to describe it,” Revzina said. “We helped each other a lot today on the court. We are just really excited about today’s win and are looking forward to playing again on Saturday.”

At the No. 1 spot, UF road the strong serving of Megan Alexander (Dallas, Texas), as the Gator sophomore and Marrit Boonstra (The Netherlands) downed 21^st-ranked Amanda Taylor and Courtney Ulery, 8-4 to seal the doubles point. Boonstra, who was equally as tough with her serve, held at love to being the match. After Taylor held in the next game, Alexander exploded with consecutive serves en route to a 2-1 lead. The Gators then broke Ulery, but the Commodores broke back. Florida dug deep and continued the trend with another break and Alexander again held with another strong service game that gave UF a 5-2 lead. Neither team relinquished its serve for the next five games, before the Gators ended by breaking Ulery.

On the singles courts, Florida’s depth came through with straight set wins, as Whitney Benik (Delray Beach, Fla.), Revzina and Boonstra collected victories to help the Gators defeat the Commodores for the third time this season.

Benik was the first Gator off the singles court, earning a 6-3, 6-4 victory over 69^th-ranked Courtney Ulery at the No. 4 position, as the Gator senior collected her 98^th career singles win.

“Our team is so prepared and ready to go,” Benik said. “We are all playing at the top of our games and we want to keep on playing, hopefully, we’ll bring our best again on Saturday.”

Revzina then posted a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Caroline Ferrell at the No. 6 spot, earning her 15^th consecutive singles win and give the Gators a 3-0 lead in the team scoring.

“The first day playing at this stage of the NCAA Championship is always a bit nerve-racking because it is a new court and a new atmosphere,” Revzina said. “Our men’s team came to the match and they were awesome, cheering and yelling for us. This facility is amazing, I feel like I’m playing in a professional tournament.”

Vanderbilt senior Taka Bertrand prevented the shutout by downing Alexander 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 3 spot, shortly before Boonstra capped the dual match victory with a 6-0, 6-3 final over Keilly Ulery. Boonstra’s match was actually played indoors because two of the lights on the court were not working and it was deemed to dark to play. They started approximately 30 minutes after the other singles matches, but it didn’t take long for Boonstra to catch-up and tally a counting decision.

Florida had won the first set on the two abandoned singles courts, where freshman Julia Cohen took the first set , 6-3, from Amanda Taylor and the second was on-serve at 3-2, while sophomore Csilla Borsanyi (Hungary) was winning the long baseline battle against Catherine Newman, 7-6 (4), 0-1 when play halted.

Florida improved to 23-2 all-time record in Round of 16 matches, winning 23 consecutive at this stage of the tournament.

NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships, Round of 16

Michael D. Case Tennis Center

Tulsa, Okla.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Team Results, Round of 16

(1) Northwestern d. (16) Fresno State, 4-1

(8) California d. (9) Duke, 4-3

(4) Stanford d. (13) Clemson, 4-0

(5) Baylor d. (12) Miami (Fla.), 4-1

(6) Florida d. (11) Vanderbilt, 4-1

(3) Georgia Tech d. Texas, 4-2

(7) UCLA d. (10) Southern California, 4-0

Arkansas d. (2) Georgia, 4-2

UF Individual Dual Match Results Only

Doubles

1. (8) Megan Alexander/Marrit Boonstra, UF d. (21) Amanda Taylor/Courtney Ulery, VU, 8-4*

2. Whitney Benik/Csilla Borsanyi, UF vs. Taka Bertrand/Catherine Newman, VU – DNF (VU led 7-3)

3. Julia Cohen/Anastasia Revzina, UF d. Caroline Ferrell/Keilly Ulery, VU, 8-1

Singles

1. (29) Julia Cohen, UF led (17) Amanda Taylor, VU, 6-3, 3-2 DNF

2. (33) Csilla Borsanyi, UF led (48) Catherine Newman, VU, 7-6 (4), 0-1 DNF

3. (117) Taka Bertrand, VU d. (116) Megan Alexander, UF 6-3, 6-1

4. Whitney Benik, UF d. (69) Courtney Ulery, VU 6-3, 6-4

5. Marrit Boonstra, UF d. Keilly Ulery, VU 6-0, 6-3*

6. (96) Anastasia Revzina, UF d. Caroline Ferrell, VU 6-2, 6-3

Order of Finish: Doubles-3, 1*; Singles-4, 6, 3, 5*

Records: Florida 23-2; Vanderbilt 20-6

END OF REPORT