The No. 18 Florida State women’s tennis team cruised to the doubles point and captured three hard-fought singles matches to defeat No. 33 Auburn, 4-0, on Saturday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex in the NCAA First Round.

The Seminoles (17-7) advance to the NCAA Second Round to face the winner of the Florida/College of Charleston contest. Sunday’s championship game commences at 2 p.m. EST at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Single-day tickets for Sunday’s session are $3 for everyone and may be purchased at Linder Stadium. Auburn, making its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, ends its season at 11-13.

“Our girls did a really good job of setting the tone today, starting with doubles,” FSU head coach Jennifer Hyde said. “We did a good job of backing Auburn down on a lot of the courts.  Auburn’s a heck of a team, and we knew it was going to be a gritty match today. I thought we did a really good job against a really good Auburn team.”

Florida State’s No. 3 doubles tandem of Lauren Macfarlane and Noemie Scharle motored past Auburn’s Fani Chifchieva and Taylor Schreimann, 8-1, before the Seminoles’ Jessica Sucupira and Bonny Davidson clinched the doubles point for their team with an 8-2 victory against the Tigers’ Myrthe Molenveld and Daniela Vukadinovic.

In singles, Macfarlane defeated Myrthe, 6-2, 6-3 to put Florida State ahead 2-0. At No. 1 singles, the Seminoles Katie Rybakova, ranked 50^th in the nation, took down Chifchieva, the country’s fifth-ranked player, 6-2, 6-4. Federica Suess, ranked 106^th nationally, won a hard-fought match against the Tigers’ Chappell, 6-4, 6-2, to clinch the team’s victory.

Florida State, making its 16^th NCAA Tournament appearance in school history, will be looking to advance to the round of 16 in the team championships for the first time in program history.

The Seminoles now hold a 19-2 lead against the Tigers in series history.

“First of all, I have to give kudos to Florida State,” Auburn head coach Tim Gray said. “They did a great job today. We felt like, coming in, the team that dealt with adversity better during the match would be the one that would get the win. I thought the match was pretty even. Florida State did a great job of putting pressure on us in the doubles and they did a better job handling the difficult situations that came up during the match than we did.”

For all of the latest information about this weekend’s NCAA First and Second Round Tennis hosted by the University of Florida, please log on to: http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/tour/ncaa/2009/.

NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament

Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex

Gainesville, Fla.

Final Score: No. 18 Florida State d. No. 33 Auburn, 4-0

Doubles

No. 1 – Federica Suess/Katie Rybakova (FSU) led (12) Whitney Chappell/Alex Haney (AU), 7-5 DNF

No. 2 – Jessica Sucupira/Bonny Davidson (FSU) def. Myrthe Molenveld/Daniela Vukadinovic (AU), 8-2 *

No. 3 – Lauren Macfarlane/Noemie Scharle (FSU) def. Fani Chifchieva/Taylor Schreimann (AU), 8-1

Singles

No. 1 – (50) Katie Rybakova (FSU) def. (5) Fani Chifchieva (AU), 6-2, 6-4

No. 2 – (35) Noemie Scharle (FSU) led (28) Alex Haney (AU), 6-3, 4-6, 3-2 DNF

No. 3 – Lauren Macfarlane (FSU) def. Myrthe Molenveld (AU), 6-2, 6-3

No. 4 – (106) Federica Suess (FSU) def. Whitney Chappell (AU), 6-4, 6-2 *

No. 5 – Ania Rynarzewska (FSU) led Daniela Vukadinovic (AU), 6-4, 5-3 DNF

No. 6 – Jessica Sucupira (FSU) led Jil Hastenrath (AU), 6-4, 3-1 DNF

Order of Finish: doubles – 3, 2*; singles – 3, 1, 4*

Florida State Head Coach Jennifer Hyde

On her team’s 4-0 win against No. 33 Auburn in the NCAA First Round …

“Our girls did a really good job of setting the tone today, starting with doubles.  We came out very aggressive.  We did a good job of backing Auburn down on a lot of the courts.  Auburn’s a heck of a team, and we knew it was going to be a gritty match today. I thought we did a really good job against a really good Auburn team.”

On how her team faired after having not competed in three weeks …

“I’m really happy for our girls, because we haven’t competed in three weeks.  We needed a tough match and Auburn gave us that.  We knew it was going to be tight in a lot of spots.  I’m really pleased how we set the tone early with doubles.  I was really happy, and our girls did a great job with that.”

On potentially facing host Florida in the NCAA Second Round …

“Any time you play against a good team, it’s not hard to get up for it. The rivalry with Florida, in the event that we’re playing Florida, is always a great rivalry.  They’re a good, competitive, well-coached team. We expect nothing but an absolute dogfight. We’re ready for it. We are excited about it, and ready for the opportunity to get to a place we’ve never been before. We’re going to put our heads down and enjoy this win for the day, and come out ready to go tomorrow.”

Florida State Sophomore Federica Suess

On FSU’s first-round win against No. 33 Auburn on Saturday …

“We started off well playing doubles. We dominated pretty early and singles was pretty much the same thing. We are having fun out there and it’s a great tournament.”

On facing the winner of the Florida-College of Charleston match on Sunday …

“We are looking forward to the match tomorrow. The Sweet 16 is a big deal for us, as we have never done that at Florida State. It’s definitely a big deal.”

Auburn Head Coach Tim Gray

On his team’s 4-0 loss to No. 18 Florida State in the NCAA First Round …

“First of all, I have to give kudos to Florida State. They did a great job today. We felt like, coming in, the team that dealt with adversity better during the match would be the one that would get the win. I thought the match was pretty even. Florida State did a great job of putting pressure on us in the doubles and they did a better job handling the difficult situations that came up during the match than we did.”

On the experience his team gained from advancing to its third consecutive NCAA Tournament …

“We felt like we were going to be in as either a two or three seed. We felt that our schedule prepared us to be here. We beat two top-25 teams this year. We thought our chances were good, but we came out slow in doubles and they were able to capitalize on the momentum. I thought we were able to neutralize things a little bit early on in singles, but Florida State did a good job of managing the momentum.”

On what it says for the direction of his program advancing to three consecutive NCAA Tournaments …

“We’ve only been to the NCAA Tournament six times as a program, but three times since I’ve been here. I definitely think we are headed in the right direction and I am proud of the direction that our program is going in. We’ve got a good recruiting class coming in next year. I really think our kids are starting to turn the corner. We beat Georgia two years ago when they were No. 1 in the country, and we’ve played Florida close, losing 4-3, the last couple of times. I think we’re to the point where we can play with anyone, we just don’t have the depth right now to beat these teams day in and day out.”

END OF REPORT