No. 3 Florida won its 10th consecutive women’s tennis match Friday, downing No. 24 Vanderbilt, 6-1, at the Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex.
The victory was Florida’s 90th consecutive regular-season home win and kept the Gators in the hunt for the Southeastern Conference title. Florida improved to 7-0 in the SEC and 17-2 overall with a home match Sunday at noon against Kentucky. Florida won all three doubles matches and received singles victories from Claire Bartlett, Lauren Embree, Marrit Boonstra, Joanna Mather and Allie Will to increase its impressive all-time home record against SEC foes to 165-1.
Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist, however, was disappointed with the Gators’ play.
“With the forehands and backhands we were pretty good, but we weren’t very good with the little things,” Thornqvist said. “We didn’t handle adversity well and we lost focus at times. Maybe we showed our youth today, because overall it was very disappointing.”
UF won the doubles point for the 18th time in 19 dual matches, capturing the victory on all three courts. The Gators’ fifth-ranked team of Boonstra and Will logged its ninth straight win with an 8-1 decision in 42 minutes against 25th-ranked Chelsea Preeg and Jackie Wu at No. 1 doubles. The Gators clinched the point at No. 3 doubles where Mather and Caroline Hitimana downed the Commodores’ Hannah Blatt and Rachael Dillon, 8-3. Embree and Anastasia Revzina provided the exclamation point when they tallied an 8-5 victory over Catherine Newman and Erica Robertson
After Florida won the doubles point, sophomore newcomer Bartlett beat Megan Gornet, 6-0, 6-2, on court No. 6 and gave the Gators a 2-0 lead. Bartlett closed out the first set in 23 minutes and won the first two games of the second before Gornet got on the board by holding serve. Bartlett improved to 12-3 in dual-match singles play.
“I got it done quickly today,” Bartlett said. “(Associate head coach) Dave Balogh and I set some goals that I work toward every day and that has really helped me. I feel like I’ve gotten faster and stronger and I have a lot more confidence hitting the ball.”
Freshman Embree won her 10th consecutive singles match with Friday’s 6-2, 6-1 victory against 23rd-ranked Catherine Newman at No. 1 singles. The win was Embree’s 20th against a ranked opponent as she improved to 25-5 overall, including 13-3 in dual-match singles action, with a 7-0 record against SEC foes.
Boonstra provided the clinching dual-match victory as she led Keilly Ulery, 6-4, 5-2, and held match-point, receiving at 30-40, when Ulery went down with an injury and retired. Mather provided Florida with its fifth point with her 6-2, 6-3 victory against Rachael Dillon at No. 4. Will and Chelsea Preeg battled at No. 2 singles before Will prevailed, 6-4, 6-2 for her team-leading 17th consecutive singles victory.
Hitimana had evened her match against Vanderbilt’s Hannah Blatt at one-set all, but when the contest on court three was in an injury delay, the two had to resume play in a regulation third set instead of a 10-point super-tiebreaker. The third set was on-serve through seven games, before the two traded breaks and continued on-serve and was forced to a tiebreaker, where Hitimana actually jumped out to a 2-1 lead behind a mini-break. Blatt came right back and won four straight points for a 5-2 lead en route to the 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (3) win that prevented the team shutout.
No. 3 FLORIDA 3, No. 24 VANDERBILT 1
At Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
DOUBLES
1. (5) Marrrit Boonstra-Allie Will (F) def. (25) Chelsea Preeg-Jackie Wu, 8-1; 2. (35) Lauren Embree-Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Catherine Newman-Erica Robertson, 8-5; 3. Caroline Hitimana-Joanna Mather (F) def. Hannah Blatt-Rachael Dillon, 8-3. Order of finish: 1, 3, 2. Florida wins singles point, 3-0.
SINGLES
1. (14) Lauren Embree (F) def. (23) Catherine Newman, 6-2, 6-1; 2. (9) Allie Will (F) def. (82) Chelsea Preeg, 6-4, 6-2; 3. (79) Marrit Boonstra (F) def. Keilly Ulery, 6-4, 5-2 retired; 4. Joanna Mather (F) def. Rachael Dillon, 6-2, 6-3; 5. Hannah Blatt (V) def. Caroline Hitimana, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (3); 6. Claire Bartlett (F) def. Megan Gornet, 6-0, 6-2. Order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 4, 2, 5.
Records: Vanderbilt 9-7, 4-3 SEC; Florida 17-2, 7-0 SEC.