ATHENS, Ga. – Don’t let the final score fool you. Florida women’s tennis coach Roland Thornqvist isn’t. He knows just how tough No. 11 Miami (Fla.) was against his No. 3 Gators, who prevailed 4-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on the University of Georgia campus.
As they do in every other sport, the Gators and Hurricanes battled for everything, but in the end, Florida’s talent won out and sent the Gators (28-2) into the semifinals for the 20th time in the last 24 years. Waiting for Florida is No. 2 North Carolina (30-4) on Monday at 1 p.m. The Tar Heels held off No. 10 Duke, 4-3, in another quarterfinal match Saturday.
The other semifinal will match No. 6 Notre Dame (27-3) and No. 8 Stanford (24-1). The Fighting Irish scored a 4-2 victory over Tennessee, while the Cardinal pulled off the biggest surprise of the championships thus far, eliminating top-ranked Baylor 4-2.
“This was one of the toughest matches we’ve played all year. The 4-0 score clearly wasn’t how the match really was,” Thornqvist said. “It was very closely contested. Miami’s a tough team. We knew they were going to be loud and really fight no matter what the score was. I thought we opened by playing very well in doubles. I told them between doubles and singles that doubles was not going to be an indication of how singles was going to go.”
The Gators played extremely focused doubles and captured the doubles point after collecting victories on courts two and three. Florida’s 29th-ranked duo of Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather scored an 8-3 victory over Miami’s Bianca Eichkorn and Anna Bartenstein at No. 2 doubles. Then Caroline Hitimana and Anastasia Revzina scored an 8-3 victory at No. 3 doubles over Miami’s Danielle Mills and Claudia Wasilewski. That gave the doubles point to Florida and halted the No. 1 doubles match which Florida’s No. 5 team of Marrit Boonstra and Allie Will lad 7-6 over Miami’s Gabriela Mejia and Laura Vallverdu.
Thornqvist’s words before the singles play proved to be very prophetic as the No. 1 singles match between No. 9-ranked freshman Embree and No. 7-ranked senior Vallverdu battled for one hour and 45 minutes before Embree emerged with a 6-4, 6-2 victory that gave Florida a 2-0 lead. Vallverdu is the highest ranked player Embree has beaten this season.
“Laura’s a great player, a senior, and she’s had a lot of good results,” Embree said. “I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and I had to play my best, hit every ball deep and keep playing hard until the last point. I’m so excited. I have so many different emotions right now. After I won my singles match, I just wanted to rush over to Joanna (Mather) and Caroline’s (Hitimana) courts because I knew they needed some help on those courts. We’re tough at every court and that’s makes us a strong team.”
Mather, a native of Duluth, Ga., located just 44 miles from Athens, was able to channel the energy from her teammates and fans, as she gave Florida a 3-0 lead when she defeated Gabriela Mejia, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 singles. The match took one hour and 54 minutes to complete.
“The match was pretty intense. I had a lot of fans cheering for me and that helped a lot,” Mather said. “I tried to stay calm. Dave (Balogh, Florida’s associate head coach) really helped me with that and staying focused. I’m just so excited! I’ve never had this feeling before, being in this situation with the girls after the whole year. We’ve been training so hard and all of our hard work is finally showing.”
The remaining four singles matches were extremely close when Mather closed out her match, as Florida still needed to win one more to capture the dual match. Miami had won the first set on courts two and three and rallied to force a third set at the No. 4 spot, while Florida’s Caroline Hitimana won a tough first set at No. 6 against Claudia Wasilewski.
That’s when the Gators dug deep. Fittingly, it was senior Anastasia Revzina who was able to provide the finishing touches on the dual match victory as she downed Danielle Mills, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in two hours and 19 minutes and helped Florida win its 21st consecutive dual match. It was the 95th career singles victory for Revzina and her 70th in dual-match play.
“I played really well in the first set and didn’t give her any chances to adjust to my game so it was pretty quick,” Revzina said. “After the first set, she took a bathroom break and I lost my focus. She stepped up her game, served better. In the third set, it was tougher. I am a senior and knew I had to keep playing.”
Midway through Revzina’s third set, Will and Bianca Eichkorn were staging a thrilling battle. Eichkorn, who entered the match riding a 24-match win streak was able to break Will in the 12th game of the first set to take the early lead. Will, who sported a 25-match winning streak, found herself down 2-0 to start the second. She regrouped in a hurry by breaking right back. The two traded breaks again midway through the frame, before Will earned another in the ninth game and served out for the set to force a third. Will then jumped out to a 2-0 lead and Eichkorn held when play was abandoned.
Senior Marrit Boonstra seemed down and out against Anna Bartenstein, but the Gator senior never quit and found a way to win a second-set tiebreaker. Action had not yet begun in the final set when play was halted.
After winning her first set 6-4 against Claudia Wasilewski, Hitimana’s second set was also very tight and on-serve entering the ninth game, where Wasilewski earned a break to begin a four-game trend, as Hitimana broke to force a tiebreaker. The Gator freshman led the breaker 5-3, when play was abandoned.
“We went through some ups and downs in singles, but through it all, we found a way to answer anything Miami had,” Thornqvist said. “The fact that we were able to split sets at two and three singles really helped us win the match at four singles. It really took a lot of pressure off of our player and added a ton of pressure on their player.
“We’ve talked about those types of things since August, in that to play well here it goes well beyond forehands and backhands,” Thornqvist continued. “It’s about heart and toughness and fight and we showed all of that today. I’m really proud of them.”
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM COMPETITION / Dan Magill Tennis Complex, University of Georgia / Athens, Ga.
QUARTERFINALS / Saturday, May 22
No. 3 FLORIDA 4, No. 11 MIAMI (FLA.) 0
Doubles
1. (5) Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (F) vs. (6) Gabriela Mejia-Laura Vallverdu (M), 7-6 DNF; 2. (29) Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather (F) def. (36) Bianca Eichkorn-Anna Bartenstein, 8-3; 3. Carolina Hitimana-Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Danielle Mills-Claudia Wasilewski, 8-3. Order of finish: 2, 3. Florida wins doubles point, 2-0.
Singles
1. (9) Lauren Embree (F) def. (7) Laura Vellverdu, 6-4, 6-2; 2. (8) Allie Will (F) vs. (40) Bianca Eichkorn (M), 5-7, 6-4, 2-1 DNF; 3. (65) Marrit Boonstra (F) vs. (84) Anna Bartenstein (M), 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) DNF; 4. (102) Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Danielle Mills, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4; 5. Joanna Mather (F) def. (113) Gabriela Mejia, 6-4, 6-2; 6. (106) Carolina Hitimana (F) vs. Claudia Wasilewski (M), 6-4, 6-6 DNF. Order of finish: 1, 5, 4.
Records: Florida 28-2, Miami (Fla.) 20-6. Seeding: Florida 3, Miami (Fla.) 11. Time of match: 3 hours, 41 minutes. Attendance: 904.
No. 2 NORTH CAROLINA 4, No. 10 DUKE 3
Doubles
1. (32) Ellah Nze-Amanda Granson (D) def. (13) Sophie Grabinski-Sanaz Marand, 8-5; 2. (38) Mary Clayton-Monica Gorny (D) def. (31) Katrina Tsang-Shinann Featherston, 8-6; 3. Jelena Durisic-Jocelyn Ffriend (NC) vs. (73) Reka Zsilinszka-Elizabeth Plotkin (D), DNF. Order of finish: 1, 2. Duke wins doubles point, 2-0.
Singles
1. (21) Sanaz Marand (NC) def. (47) Ellah Nze, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; 2. (54) Katrina Tsang (NC) def. (81) Elizabeth Plotkin, 6-4, 6-3; 3. (34) Reka Zsilinszka (D) def. Sophie Grabinski, 6-2, 6-3; 4. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (NC) def. Amanda Granson, 7-6 (7-1), 6-1; 5. Monica Gorny (D) def. Shinann Featherston, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3; 6. Zoe De Bruycker (NC) def. Mary Clayton, 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Order of finish: 2, 3, 6, 5, 1.
Records: North Carolina 30-4, Duke 22-8. Seeding: North Carolina 2, Duke 10.
No. 6 NOTRE DAME 4, No. 14 TENNESSEE 2
Doubles
1. (3) Kristy Frilling-Kali Krisik (ND) def. (1) Caitlin Whoriskey-Natalie Pluskota, 8-6; 2. (30) Roslia Alda-Zsofia Zubor (T) def. Cosmina Ciobanu-Shannon Mathews, 8-6; 3. Maria Sorbello-Kata Szekely (T) def. Chrissie McGaffigan-Kristen Rafael, 9-8. Order of finish: 1, 2, 3. Tennessee wins doubles point, 2-1.
Singles
1. (16) Kristy Frilling (ND) def. (11) Caitlin Whoriskey, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3; 2. (108) Shannon Mathews (ND) def. (62) Maria Sorbello, 7-5, 6-3; 3. Chrissie McGaffigan (ND) vs. Rosalia Alda (T), 6-3, 5-7, 3-2 DNF; 4. Cosmina Ciobanu (ND) def. Zsofia Zubor, 6-2, 6-1; 5. Kali Krisik (ND) def. Jennifer Meredith, 6-2, 7-6; 6. Kata Szekely (T) def. Kristen Rafael, 6-2, 7-5. Order of finish: 4, 6, 2, 5, 1.
Records: Notre Dame 26-3, Tennessee 19-9. Seeding: Notre Dame 5, Tennessee 13.
No. 8 STANFORD 4, No. 1 BAYLOR 2
Doubles
1. (2) Hilary Barte-Lindsay Burdette (S) def. (11) Lenka Broosova-Csilia Borsanyi, 9-8 (3); 2. Nina Secerbegovic-Jelena Stanivuk (B) def. (56) Mallory Burdette-Stacey Tan, 9-7; 3. Veronica Li-Carolyn McVeigh (S) def. Taylor Ormond-Carla Lindlar, 8-3. Order of finish: 3, 2, 1. Stanford wins doubles point, 2-1.
Singles
1. (4) Hilary Barte (S) def. (5) Lenka Broosova, 7-5, 7-5; 2. (18) Nina Secerbegovic (B) def. (83) Lindsay Burdette, 6-3, 7-5; 3. (33) Mallory Burdette (S) def. (55) Taylor Ormond, 6-4, 6-0; 4. (106) Csilia Borsanyi (B) vs. (86) Stacey Tam (S), 3-6, 6-1, 5-2 DNF; 5. Jelena Stanivuk (B) def. Carolyn McVeigh, 6-2, 6-3; 6. Veronica Li (S) def. Karolina Fillipiak, 6-3, 6-4. Order of finish: 3, 6, 5, 2, 1.
Records: Baylor 30-3, Stanford 24-1. Seeding: Baylor 1, Stanford 8.
SEMIFINALS / Monday, May 24
(3) Florida (28-2) vs. (2) North Carolina (30-4), 1 p.m.
(5) Notre Dame (27-3) vs. (8) Stanford (24-1), 2 p.m.
CHAMPIONSHIP / Tuesday, May 25
Florida-North Carolina winner vs. Notre Dame-Stanford winner, 2 p.m. (ESPNU)