Florida Gators women’s tennis advances to SEC seminfinal

Report on the Florida Gators women’s tennis team:

BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 3 University of Florida Gators women’s tennis team defeated the No. 20 LSU Tigers on Friday afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the 2016 SEC Women’s tennis tournament. The Gators advance to the semifinal round where they will compete against the Auburn Tigers.

In doubles play, the No.68-ranked tandem of Anna Danilina and Brianna Morgancruised to a 6-2 win on three. No. 4-ranked Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegancame back from down 3-love to win six straight games and clinch the doubles point for Florida.

Singles action saw Keegan win 6-1, 6-1 in dominating fashion on court three. Danilina was next off the court with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court five. Junior Spencer Liang would clinch the match for the Orange and Blue with a 6-4, 6-3 win on court six.

The Gators will play the winner of the Auburn Tigers and South Carolina Gamecocks on Saturday morning at 12 p.m. ET at the LSU Tennis Complex.

Head Coach Roland Thornqvist
Thoughts on the match win… 
“We started out really well in doubles. I thought we were sharp in doubles. We were aggressive. We served well. We made all of our returns. We played well in all three spots. I really thought LSU was good, particularly in three of the first sets, they gave us some fits. As I told the team after, we did a fantastic job in those three matches were we lost the first set to immediately answer in the second. That really helped the three players who won their first sets continue their momentum and play with more freedom. None of our players who lost their first sets really went away. They were all in the fight the whole time and that is what you have to do during tournament time.”

 

Andrew Spivey
Andrew always knew he wanted to be involved with sports in some capacity. He began by coaching high school football for six years before deciding to pursue a career in journalism. While coaching, he was a part of two state semifinal teams in the state of Alabama. Given his past coaching experience, he figured covering recruiting would be a perfect fit. He began his career as an intern for Rivals.com, covering University of Florida football recruiting. After interning with Rivals for six months, he joined the Gator Country family as a recruiting analyst. Andrew enjoys spending his free time on the golf course and watching his beloved Atlanta Braves. Follow him on Twitter at @AndrewSpiveyGC.