No. 1 Florida 4, No. 5 Tennessee 0

 

Recap

Top-seeded Florida advanced to the final of the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament with a 4-0 victory over fifth-seeded Tennessee in the semifinal round at the Ring Tennis Complex on Saturday morning.

 

The Gators (20-1), who will be making their 18^th appearance in the final match in the 19-year history of the event, play either No. 2 seed Vanderbilt or No. 3 Kentucky on Sunday at Noon. That match was in a weather delay and will not begin any early than 5 p.m. ET.

 

Florida held a 1-0 lead before any players took the court, as Tennessee (12-12) was forced to default the No. 6 singles position, as a member of the Lady Vols’ soccer team pitched in for the depleted squad to play No. 3 doubles but was unable to take the court in singles.

 

Understandably, the Gator’s No. 3 tandem of Keri Robison and Nina Suvak had little trouble dominating in the 8-0 victory over Samantha Orlin and Hayley Prendergast. Florida won the first 18 points of the 25-minute match and lost seven total points, giving the Gators a quick advantage toward winning the doubles point. The Gator’s No. 2 team of Lolita Frangulyan and Diana Srebrovic provided the clinching doubles win with an 8-2 decision over Blakeley Griffith and Victoria Jones, as Florida assumed a 2-0 lead in the team scoring. The Gator’s No. 1 pair of Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon held a 7-3 lead when play was abandoned.

 

Srebrovic carried Florida’s momentum onto the singles court, where she blasted Victoria Jones 6-0, 6-0 at the No. 2 position to give the Gators a 3-0 lead. Jones’ best chance of winning a game came on her serve to open the second set, as she held a 40-0 lead. But Srebrovic battled back to earn the break and seemingly break Jones’ spirit, as Srebrovic spray the court with powerful ground strokes, losing just three points in the final five games of the game to net her third double-bagel of the season.

 

Florida also won the first sets on three of the other four courts, with Whitney Benik providing the clinching victory, defeating Blakeley Griffith 6-4, 6-1 at the No. 3 position. Like Srebrovic, Benik finished strong at the end, losing just three points in the final three games to collect her sixth consecutive win.

 

Agate

Women’s SEC Tournament

Ring Tennis Complex

Gainesville, Fla.

 

Saturday, April 22, 2006

 

Semifinals

 

Final Score: No. 1 Florida 4, No. 5 Tennessee 0

Doubles
No. 1 #41 Benik/Gordon, UF, led #51 Schaub/Schutte, UT, 7-3 (DNF)

No. 2 Frangulyan/Srebrovic, UF def. Griffith/Jones, UT, 8-2* (0:51)

No. 3 Robison/Suvak, UF def. Orlin/Prendergast, UT, 8-0 (0:25)

Singles
No. 1 #14 Alexis Gordon, UF, led Melissa Schaub, UT, 6-3, 4-3 (DNF)

No. 2 #5 Diana Srebrovic, UF, def. Victoria Jones, UT, 6-0, 6-0 (0:53)

No. 3 #124 Whitney Benik, UF, def. Blakeley Griffith, UT, 6-4, 6-1* (1:15)

No. 4 Nina Suvak, UF, led Samantha Orlin, UT, 6-2, 3-5 (DNF)

No. 5 Samantha Orlin, UT, led Alex Lies, UF, 7-6 (1), 2-3 (DNF)

No. 6 Keri Robison, UF, def. Hayley Prendergast, UT, default

 
Order of finish: Doubles- 3, 2; Singles-6, 2, 3

 

Florida

Head Coach Roland Thornqvist

“For a preparation standpoint, it was crucial to play the morning match. Our kids are plenty prepared to play tomorrow and, in fact, I’d like it to be really hot.”

 

“I think we’re playing well in doubles. No. 3 cruised today and No. 2 doubles was really impressive. They played very confident tennis. They’re two big athletes there and they take up a lot of space. They’re tough to play. No. 1 did a good job of battling and trying to find their way to play at an elite level. We’re not quite there yet, but we’re certainly trying hard. I’m hoping they’ll play their best match of the weekend tomorrow.”

 

Diana Srebrovic, Sophomore

“I don’t think it was easy. There were a lot of close matches in the singles. Tennessee was leading in a lot of the matches. I think we all came out with a lot of energy and played great tennis. That probably made it look easier than it was.”

 

“It takes a lot of pressure off going into singles up 2-0. You don’t have to worry about anything. There were five singles matches on the court and we only needed to win two. With the quality of players that we have, it would be a surprise if we didn’t win those two matches.”

 

“We put pressure on ourselves to win because we think that we are good enough to win and that we should win. As far as pressure from the outside, I don’t think it affects us. We want to prove that we can keep winning these titles because we are good enough to do it.”

 

“I played really well today. As the beginning of this semester, I wasn’t playing my best tennis. I had a couple of minor injuries and I was struggling a little bit. But I feel that today was the beginning of me playing the way I was when I won nationals. I’m really happy with my performance today.”

 

Whitney Benik, Sophomore

“It was awesome (to avoid a rain delay). We wanted to play and get off the court as soon as we could because I think it’s supposed to rain today. It helped that we already had a point and Diana getting off the court so fast helped too.“

 

“The last two days (Alexis and I) really improved our play. Yesterday, we had to focus on our return game. Our main focus was getting the return in and playing from there. I think we did well today. We definitely need to improve. Our game still isn’t at the top, but it’s definitely improving and it’s helping us.”

 

Tennessee

Head Coach Mike Patrick

“We played probably as well as we could have played today. Florida’s got some really talented girls at the top of their lineup that we don’t match up very well with. It doesn’t do a lot for your morale when you’re going against a team that’s probably more talented than you and you’re already giving them a couple points. Our kids are just fighters, so we went out there and tried to make it as long a match and as tough a match as possible. We’re not going to try and beat people with one swing. As long as we know that and stay with what we’re very good at doing we can make it competitive. I’m real proud of our team, overcoming some of the things we’ve had to deal with this year. We finished in the top four in the tournament, and top five during the season. We have had an exceptional year. It says a lot about the character of the people on our team. Florida’s top two girls can put the ball away and play with anybody in the country and the rest are very solid. They don’t have any real weak spots.”

 

Melissa Schaub, Senior

 “I thought we fought really hard today. The scores were close in a lot of the matches. I think we’ve come a long way since the beginning of the season.”

 

“I think we handled (the heat) fine. It didn’t bother us much.”

 

“It’s tough playing Florida at home, but they’re a tough team, it would be tough to play them anywhere. I don’t think it was a disadvantage to us. We played well.”

 

 

No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 3 Kentucky

 

Recap

The start of this match has been delayed due to weather and is not schedule to start any earlier than 5 p.m. ET.