ATHENS, Ga. – For the Florida women’s team, it has been good to be Florida Gator at the University of Georgia, and for one more day and one more match, head coach Roland Thornqvist and his team hope that the Dan Magill Tennis Complex remains their sweet home away from home.
The third-ranked Gators improved their record at Magill to 7-0 this season with their biggest victory thus far – a 4-0 victory over second-ranked North Carolina in the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Team Championship semifinals Monday.
That put Florida (29-2), winner of 22 straight matches since back-to-back losses at the ITA Indoors in Madison, Wis., in the middle of February, into Tuesday’s championship match against No. 8 Stanford (25-1), which knocked off No. 5 Notre Dame 4-1 in the other semifinal. The match is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will be televised by ESPNU. It will be a rematch of the 2003 final in Gainesville won by Thornqvist’s Gators, 4-3.
“So far, (Athens has) been really good to us,” said Florida coach Roland Thornqvist, who played collegiately at North Carolina, earned an economics degree at Chapel Hill in 1996 and coached his alma mater for three seasons before taking over the Florida program in 2003.
You bet it has. Florida beat Georgia in a dual match, 6-1, on April 11 and then added three victories (4-0 over LSU, 4-0 over South Carolina and 4-1 over Tennessee). Since arriving in Athens last week, the Gators have knocked off Mississippi 4-1 in the Round of 16, Miami (Fla.) 4-0 in the quarterfinals and North Carolina 4-0 in the semifinals.
Florida and Stanford have not met since the Cardinal won 4-0 in the 2006 NCAA Final Four semifinals on their homecourts. Stanford owns an 8-2 advantage, and Tuesday’s meeting will be the eighth time Florida and Stanford have met in the final. The Cardinal are working on their own long winning streak – 18 after Monday’s victory over the Fighting Irish. Stanford’s only loss was a 6-1 setback at UCLA.
Once again, it was Florida’s fabulous freshmen – No. 1 Lauren Embree and No. 2 Allie Will – who helped the Gators advance. It was Embree’s 6-2, 1-6, 7-5 victory over North Carolina’s Sanaz Marand that clinched the victory, and she had her own cheering section while playing Marand, who is ranked No. 21 nationally.
“It’s so exciting,” said Embree, who is ranked No. 9 nationally. “What helped me out the most were my teammates who had already won. I was nervous, but I was excited.”
Embree’s victory followed a 6-3, 6-3 victory by Will, who is ranked No. 8 in singles, over North Carolina’s No. 54-ranked Katrina Tsang. Embree, who hails from Marco Island, has not lost a singles match since Feb. 14 and Will hasn’t lost a singles match since Nov. 6, 2009.
“Once again, our two freshmen at the top keep proving, time and time again, that they’re not traditional freshmen,” Thornqvist said. “They’re mature in how they play. They’re very mature in how they compete. That’s certainly the scenario here in this event. It’s not overwhelming to them.”
Embree has been remarkable during her rookie season with an overall singles record of 31-5 and an overall 35-6 doubles record. Embree is 19-3 in dual-match singles action, all at No. 1. She has a 23-3 dual-match doubles record at No. 2.
Will, meanwhile, has a team-best 46-3 overall singles record and is 35-5 in doubles. Will is 26-0 in dual-match singles action – 25-0 at the No. 2 spot and 1-0 at No. 1. She extended her winning streak to 26 matches Monday.
Florida won the doubles point with victories at Nos. 3 and 2. Another freshman, Caroline Hitimana of Belgium, combined with senior Anastasia Revzina of Russia to defeat the Tar Heels’ Jelena Durisic and Jocelyn Ffriend, 8-1, at No. 3. Then Embree and sophomore Joanna Mather defeated North Carolina’s 31st-ranked doubles team of Katrina Tsang and Shinann Featherston, 8-4, at No. 2.
Once the doubles point was clinched, the No.1 doubles match result was abandoned, and the Gators’ team of senior Marrit Boonstra, a native of The Netherlands, and Will, who hails from Boca Raton, led that 6-3. Then Boonstra, ranked No. 65, came out at No. 3 singles and gave Florida a 2-0 lead with her 6-2, 6-2 victory over Sophie Grabinski.
Not to be outdone by their younger teammates, seniors Boonstra and Revzina have been impressive during their careers. Boonstra sports a career 77-16 singles record, with a 60-8 mark in dual matches. Revzina has a 95-27 career singles record, including 70-14 in dual matches. On the doubles court, Revzina is 98-23 all-time, while Boonstra is 73-20.
“Florida played an amazing match,” North Carolina coach Brian Kalbas said. “Doubles. Singles. They are a very talented team, but they play with a lot of toughness and made us play one extra ball every point.”
Even Stanford coach Lele Forood is impressed. “They’ve got freshmen at the top of the lineup,” he said. “They’re getting contributions from the top of their lineup. They have some seniors. They have a little bit of everything. It’s going to be a fascinating match.”
Stanford, which will be seeking its 16th national title and sixth this decade, rode into the finals on straight-set victories by sisters Lindsay and Mallory Burdette, who are natives of Jackson, Ga., which is about 75 miles from Athens.
Notre Dame won the doubles point, but Stanford dominated the singles play, winning at Nos. 1-4. Senior Lindsay Burdette (ranked No. 83) won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 2 singles and freshman Mallory Burdette (No. 33) won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 3 singles to put the Cardinal up 2-1.
Stacey Tan (No. 86) scored a 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 4 singles before Hilary Barte (No. 4) won 6-4, 6-4 over Notre Dame’s Kristy Frilling (No. 16) at No. 1 singles to clinch the match.
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM SEMIFINALS / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / Monday, May 24, 2010
No. 3 FLORIDA 4, No. 2 NORTH CAROLINA 0
DOUBLES
1. (5) Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (F) vs. (13) Sanaz Marand-Sophie Grabinski (NC), 6-3, DNF; 2. (29) Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather (F) def. (31) Katrina Tsang-Shinann Featherston, 8-4; 3. Caroline Hitimana-Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Jelena Durisic-Jocelyn Ffriend, 8-1. Order of finish: 3, 2. Florida wins doubles point, 2-0.
SINGLES
1. (9) Lauren Embree (F) def. (21) Sanaz Marand, 6-2, 1-6, 7-5; 2. (8) Allie Will (F) def. (54) Katrina Tsang, 6-3, 6-3; 3. (65) Marrit Boonstra (F) def. Sophie Grabinski, 6-2, 6-2; 4. (102) Anastasia Revzina (F) vs. Gina Suarez-Malaguti, 4-6, 6-4, 3-3, DNF; 5. Joanna Mather (F) vs. Shinann Featherston (NC), 6-2, 3-6, 4-3, DNF; 6. Claire Bartlett (F) vs. Zoe De Bruycker (NC), 5-7, 2-2, DNF. Order of finish: 3, 2, 1.
Records: Florida 29-2, North Carolina 30-5.
No. 8 STANFORD 4, No. 6 NOTRE DAME 1
DOUBLES
1. (3) Kristy Frilling-Kali Krisik (ND) def. (2) Hilary Barte-Lindsay Burdette, 8-6; 2. Cosmina Ciobanu-Shannon Mathews (ND) def. Mallory Burdette-Stacey Tan, 8-3; 3. Veronica Li-Carolyn McVeigh (S) def. Chrissie McGaffigan-Kristen Rafael, 8-4. Order of finish: 2, 3, 1. Notre Dame wins doubles point, 2-1.
SINGLES
1. (4) Hilary Barte (S) def. (16) Kristy Frilling, 6-4, 6-4; 2. (83) Lindsay Burdette (S) def. (108) Shannon Mathews, 6-1, 6-2; 3. (33) Mallory Burdette (S) def. Chrissie McGaffigan, 6-0, 6-1; 4. (86) Stacey Tan (S) def. Cosmina Ciobanu, 6-2, 6-4; 5. Kali Krisik (ND) vs. Carolyn McVeigh (S), 6-4, 2-3, DNF; 6. Veronica Li (S) vs. Kristen Rafael (ND), 7-6 (7-4), 2-2, DNF. Order of finish: 3, 2, 4, 1.
Records: Stanford 25-1, Notre Dame 26-4.