Riding the wave of an enthusiastic crowd, the fifth-ranked University of Florida women’s tennis team defeated fourth-ranked North Carolina, 6-1, Wednesday evening at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.

 

The doubles point set the tone for Florida’s win, which marked the team’s 76^th consecutive home victory, as well as its 88^th straight regular-season home win.

 

“Doubles played out how I sort of envisioned it would in that it was going to be a tough-of-war and the team that could execute at the very, very end would be the team that won the doubles point,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “In singles, we were very efficient. We were strong. I thought we hit the ball with good pace and were lucid. They made some good changes, but we were able to adjust.”

 

Florida (12-2) rode the early emotion of a fiery crowd and won the first eight doubles points played, as the Gators took a 1-0 lead on all three courts.

 

“We could tell we were going to have a good crowd when there were more than 100 people there before kick-off,” Thornqvist said. “Our players really fed off them. The crowd had great energy. The best part about our crowd is that they have class. They’ve watched tennis for years and they don’t harass the other team, they cheer for the Gators.”

 

After Florida captured the victory on court No. 3 and North Carolina at the No. 2 position, the initial point of the team competition came down to the showcase court, where the Gators’ sixth-ranked pair of Marrit Boonstra and Allie Will battled eighth-ranked Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand.

 

Boonstra and Will jumped out to a 5-1 lead behind a pair of breaks, but the Tar Heels stormed back to win five straight games and take a 6-5 lead with the serve. Florida broke Grabinski to even the set and Boonstra held, losing just one point on her serve. Both sides for the rest of the 8-game pro-set, forcing a tiebreaker. That’s where Florida jumped out to a 4-1 lead en route to a 9-8 (2) win that gave the Gators at 1-0 lead.

 

Florida earned the first victory of the dual match, as the doubles team of Caroline Hitimana and Joanna Mather defeated Jocelyn Ffriend and Gina Suarez-Malaguti, 8-5. The Gators took a 3-0 lead and that was all they needed as both teams held for the remaining of the match and Hitimana served out for the win.

 

The Gators’ Lauren Embree and Anastasia Revzina had their 11-match win streak come to an end with a tough 9-8 (3) loss at the No. 2 position.

 

Florida looked strong on the singles courts, taking the momentum of winning the doubles point over the Tar Heels (13-2), whose only other loss this season was to No. 1-ranked Northwestern. North Carolina had been the top-ranked team this season, the third different Gator opponent that earned the No. 1 spot. Florida also defeated former No. 1 Duke, 7-0, but lost to Northwestern, 4-3 at the National Team Indoor Championships.

 

Will continued to look strong on the singles court, where she was the first off with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Sanaz Marand at the No. 2 position. Revzina then turned in a 6-4, 6-3 win on court No. 4 three minutes later to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.

 

It took nearly 25 minutes after that for Florida to clinch the dual match, but it seemed like the team outcome would be decided much earlier, as the No. 1 and No. 5 courts battled with multiple match-points. Neither, however, could finish and play continued.

 

Embree, who earlier in the day was named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive period, finally downed Katrina Tsang, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 1 position. Embree had triple match-point on Tsang’s serve, but the Tar Heel battled back and made Embree serve for the win, which she did and provided the clinching victory.

 

Boonstra then came through at court No. 3, where she downed Jelena Durisic, 6-3, 7-6 (3). The second set didn’t have a break, forcing a tiebreaker, where the Gator senior won the first three points and didn’t look back en route to the victory.

 

After winning the first set and seemingly in control of the second set, Mather found herself batting with Sophie Grabinski at the No. 5 position. Mather had multiple match points, serving at 5-4, but couldn’t end it, as Grabinski scraped her way back into it and won the second. Mather, who has missed the majority of the dual match season with an injury, retired and gave Grabinski the 1-6, 7-5 decision.

 

Hitiman provided the polishing touch from the No. 6 court, where she blasted her hard ground strokes for a 7-5, 7-5 victory over Shinann Featherston.

 

Florida returns its focus to Southeastern Conference action this weekend, when the Gators travel to play at Auburn and Alabama, Friday and Sunday, respectively.

 

 

Women’s College Tennis

No. 4 North Carolina at No. 5 Florida

Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex

Gainesville, Fla.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

 

Final Score: Florida 6, North Carolina 1

 

Doubles

No. 1 (6) Marrit Boonstra/Allie Will (UF) d. (8) Sophie Grabinski/Sanaz Marand (NC), 9-8 (2)*

No. 2 (39) Shinann Featherston/Katrina Tsang (NC) d. (34) Lauren Embree/Anastasia Revzina (UF), 9-8 (3)

No. 3 Caroline Hitimana/Joanna Mather (UF) d. Jocelyn Ffriend/Gina Suarez-Malaguti (NC), 8-5

 

Singles

No. 1 (15) Lauren Embree (UF) d. (32) Katrina Tsang (NC), 6-2, 6-4*

No. 2 (11) Allie Will (UF) d. (48) Sanaz Marand (NC), 6-2, 6-4

No. 3 (62) Marrit Boonstra (UF) d. Jelena Durisic (NC), 6-3, 7-6 (3)

No. 4 (105) Anastasia Revzina (UF) d. Zoe De Bruycker (NC), 6-4, 6-3

No. 5 Sophie Grabinski (NC) d. Joanna Mather (UF), 1-6, 7-5 UF defaults

No. 6 (116) Caroline Hitimana (UF) d. Shinann Featherston (NC), 7-5, 7-5

 

*indicated clinching doubles/dual match point

Order of Finish: Doubles-3, 2, 1*; Singles-2, 4, 1*, 3, 5, 6

 

Records: Florida 12-2; North Carolina 13-2

 

-UF-