Gator Country

Marrit Boonstra lost her final match at the NCAA Tennis Championships Saturday in College Station, Texas, but she earned All-America honors./Gator Country file photo by Casey Brooke Lawson

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – A marvelous tennis season ended Saturday for Florida junior Marrit Boonstra in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division I Tennis Championships but it didn’t end without a fight.

Laura Vallverdu of Miami (Fla.) dropped Boonstra, 6-1, 6-7, 6-3, at the George P. Mitchell Tennis Center at Texas A&M University. Boonstra, who is from Groningen, Netherlands, finished her first season as Florida’s No. 1 player with a 36-10 record.

By reaching the quarterfinals, however, Boonstra earned All-America honors as a singles player a year after achieving the honor playing doubles. This year, Boonstra and freshman Joanna Mather advanced to the Round of 16 before dropping a three-setter Friday night.

Boonstra, who was ranked eighth in singles this season, had reached the match with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Stanford’s Hilary Barte, becoming the first Florida woman to reach the quarterfinals since Jennifer Magley in 2005 (Magley eventually made it to the semifinals) for coach Roland Thornqvist.

On Friday evening, Boonstra and Mather (Duluth, Ga.) dropped a disappointing three-setter in the doubles Round of 16. Arizona State’s Micaela Hein and Kelcy McKenna, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

NCAA DIVISION I TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
At George P. Mitchell Tennis Center, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas
Results for the University of Florida’s tennis players competing in singles and doubles:
MEN
SINGLES
Wednesday first round
Omar Altmann (Pepperdine) def. Alex Lacroix (Florida), 6-3, 6-4.
Bryan Koniecko (Ohio State) def. Carlos Cueto (Florida), 6-3, 6-2.
DOUBLES
Thursday first round
Austin Krejicek-Conor Pollock (Texas A&M) def. Antoine Benneteau-Joey Burkhardt (Florida), 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

WOMEN
SINGLES
Wednesday first round
Marrit Boonstra (Florida) def. Bojana Bobusic (California), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5).
Marina Cossou (California) def. Anastasia Revzina (Florida), 6-2, 6-3.
Thursday second round
Marrit Boonstra (Florida) def. Christy Striplin (Georgia Tech), 6-1, 6-4.
Friday Round of 16
Marrit Boonstra (Florida) def. No. 7 Hilary Barte (Stanford), 7-5, 6-1.
Saturday quarterfinals
Laura Vallverdu (Miami) def. Marrit Boonstra (Florida), 6-1, 6-7, 6-3.
DOUBLES
Thursday first round
Macali Harkins-Anna Sydorska (Texas Christian) def. Jessica Alexander-Anastasia Revzina (Florida), 7-5, 7-6 (4).
Marrit Boonstra-Joanna Mather (Florida) def. Sophie Grabinski-Sanaz Marand (North Carolina), 6-2, 6-2.
Friday Round of 16
Micaela Hein-Kelcy McKenna (Arizona State) def. Marrit Boonstra-Joanna Mather (Florida), 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

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