University of Florida freshman Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) completed a magnificent run on Monday, when she won two tough matches and captured the singles title at the Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships held at the Bill Moore Tennis Center.

 

As winner of one of the 12 regionals held across the country, Will receives a berth into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships, considered the second leg of the collegiate Grand Slam. The 32-player singles event will be held at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in West Haven, Conn., Nov. 5-8.

 

The Gator rookie began the day upsetting Miami’s No. 2-seeded and sixth-ranked Laura Vallverdu, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Will then took aim at Florida State’s Noemie Scharle, the event’s No. 4 seed who is ranked No. 24 in the country, and emerged with an impressive 6-4, 6-0 victory to win her first collegiate singles title.

 

“Allie did a fabulous job,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist praised. “There was one point in the first set of the championship match when she noticed that her style of play really disrupted Noemie and Allie did a great job of being very physical. She limited her unforced errors, moved the ball around, used both corners and ultimately physically broke her down. It was good to see that Allie could play at such a high level throughout the tournament. To beat Vallverdu in the semis, in and of itself was a great feat because she’s a player who reached the NCAA singles final last year. For Allie to follow up such a big win against Vallverdu with a solid performance in the final was very impressive to see.”

 

Will won six singles matches in four days, as she improved her collegiate record to a remarkable 19-2, with 13 wins over nationally-ranked opponents. Monday’s semifinal victory over the sixth-ranked Vallverdu was Will’s second over a top-10 ranked foe, with the other a 6-2, 6-4 decision versus Stanford’s No. 5 Hilary Barte in the round of 16 at the Riviera All-American Championships on Oct. 9.

 

Several Gators have flirted with the Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships singles title in recent years, but Will became the first to complete the run since Jennifer Magley downed Georgia’s Shadisha Robinson in 2003. Last year then-junior Marrit Boonstra advanced to the final but lost to Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson, while Diana Srebrovic lost to Georgia Tech’s Kristi Miller, 7-6, 1-6, 7-6 (8) in 2005.

 

The ITA announces at-large and wildcard berths into the ITA National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships on Wednesday and a couple of Gators are in contention for those. The players who don’t receive a spot in the national tournament will compete that same weekend at the North Carolina Invitational in Chapel Hill, N.C.

 

Wilson/ITA Southeast Region Championships

Bill Moore Tennis Center

Atlanta, Ga.

Hosted by Georgia Tech

 

Monday, October 26, 2009

 

UF Results Only

 

Singles, Semifinals

(6-seed/not ranked) Allie Will (UF) d. (2-seed/6) Laura Vallverdu (Miami), 4-6, 6-1, 6-4

 

Singles, Final

(6-seed/not ranked) Allie Will (UF) d. (4-seed/24) Noemie Scharle (Florida State), 6-4, 6-0

 

-UF-