Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville has become quite a house of horrors for visiting women’s tennis teams over the years, and it didn’t change Wednesday.
Cheered on by the home crowd, the No. 5 Florida women’s tennis team knocked off No. 4 North Carolina, 6-1, to extend the program’s winning streak at Linder Stadium to 76 and its home winning streak to 88.
It was Florida’s No. 1 doubles team of Marrit Boonstra and Allie Will, the sixth-ranked doubles team in the country, that set the tone for the victory. With both Florida and North Carolina already with a doubles victory in their bags, Boonstra and Will battled the eighth-ranked team of Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand for the doubles point. Boonstra and Will took a 5-1 lead in their match, but Grabinski and Marand battled back to win the next five points for a 6-5 lead.
Florida broke Grabinski to even the set and Boonstra held, losing just one point on her serve. Both sides held serve to 8-8, forcing a tiebreaker. That’s where Florida jumped out to a 4-1 lead on the way to a 9-8 (2) victory to give the Gators a 1-0 lead in the match. Florida then won five of the six singles matches to improve its season record to 12-2.
“Doubles played out how I sort of envisioned it would in that it was going to be a tug-of-war and the team that could execute at the very, very end would be the team that won the doubles point,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said. “In singles, we were very efficient. We were strong. I thought we hit the ball with good pace and were lucid. They made some good changes, but we were able to adjust.”
Florida’s No. 3 doubles team of Caroline Hitimana and Joanna Mather defeated North Carolina’s Jocelyn Ffriend and Gina Suarez-Malaguti, 8-5. But North Carolina’s Shinann Featherston and Katrina Tsang ended the 11-match winning streak of Florida’s Lauren Embree and Anastasia Revzina, 9-8 (3), at No. 2 doubles.
Florida used the momentum from winning the doubles point into the singles competition and buried the Tar Heels (13-2), whose only previous loss was to No. 1 Northwestern.
Will continued to look strong on the singles court, where she was the first off with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Sanaz Marand at the No. 2 position. Revzina then turned in a 6-4, 6-3 win on court No. 4 three minutes later to give the Gators a 3-0 lead.
It took nearly 25 minutes after that for Florida to clinch the dual match, but it seemed like the team outcome would be decided much earlier, as the No. 1 and No. 5 courts battled with multiple match-points. Neither, however, could finish and play continued.
Embree finally downed Katrina Tsang, 6-2, 6-4, at the No. 1 position. Embree had triple match-point on Tsang’s serve, but the Tar Heel battled back and made Embree serve for the win, which she did and provided the clinching victory.
Florida, 2-0 in SEC play, visits Auburn Friday and Alabama Sunday.
No. 5 FLORIDA 6, No. 4 NORTH CAROLINA 1
At Linder Stadium/Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
DOUBLES
1. (6) Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (F) def. (8) Sophie Grabinski-Sanaz Marand, 9-8 (2); 2. (39) Shinann Featherston-Katrina Tsang (NC) def. (34) Lauren Embree-Anastasia Revzina, 9-8 (3); 3. Caroline Hitimana-Joanna Mather (F) def. Jocelyn Friend/Gina Suarez-Malaguti, 8-5. Order of finish: 3, 2, 1. Florida wins doubles point, 2-1.
SINGLES
1. (15) Lauren Embree (F) def. (32) Katrina Tsang, 6-2, 6-4; 2. (11) Allie Will (F) def. (48) Sanaz Marand, 6-2, 6-4; 3. (62) Marrit Boonstra (F) def. Jelena Durisic, 6-3, 7-6 (3); 4. (105) Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Zoe De Bruycker, 6-4, 6-3; 5. Sophie Grabinski (NC) def. Joanna Mather, 1-6, 7-5 (UF defaults); 6. (116) Caroline Hitimana (F) def. Shinann Featherston, 7-5, 7-5. Order of finish: 2, 4, 1, 3, 5, 6.
Records: Florida 12-2; North Carolina 13-2.