ATHENS, Ga. – Seeking its eighth victory at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex this season, No. 3 Florida ran into a familiar foe in the final match of the NCAA Women’s Tennis Team Championship – No. 8 Stanford – for the eighth time.
Crazy Eights, if you will, and there was nothing but craziness as the teams battled for every point Tuesday afternoon on the University of Georgia campus.
Trailing 3-2, Florida saw singles players Marrit Boonstra and Joanna Mather come within two games of completing the comeback for a fifth NCAA title and first since a 4-3 victory over Stanford in the 2003 final in Gainesville.
But after Boonstra, a senior from The Netherlands, battled her heart and guts out, freshman Mallory Burdette held serve to capture the No. 3 singles match, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5, to give No. 8 Stanford a 4-3 victory over No. 3 Florida for its 16th national championship.
The loss ended a 22-match winning streak for coach Roland Thornqvist’s Gators, who completed a remarkable season at 29-3. Stanford, winning its fifth title of this decade, completes a 26-1 season.
“That was probably one of the better matches I’ve been involved with in a match of this magnitude,” Thornqvist said. “I really thought our team showed tremendous courage, heart and pride. In the end we came up short, but I was really, really proud of our effort and our play in a championship round like this.”
The addition of freshmen Lauren Embree and Allie Will helped make a good Florida team a great one this season. But it was the gutsy work of sophomore Mather, who won her match at No. 5 singles over Carolyn McVeigh, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0, in front of many friends from her hometown of Dublin, Ga., and Boonstra, a senior from The Netherlands who was Florida’s No. 1 player last season but dropped to No. 3 with the emergence of Embree and Will, that almost pulled it out for Florida.
“My heart just aches for Marrit,” Thornqvist said. “She has given this program everything she has. It’s just not fair for it to come down to a result like this for her. She’s going to be hurting for a long time. Our players will echo when I say that they love her for all she has done for them and how she gives them her heart.”
For the second match in a row, Stanford dropped the doubles point as Florida’s Nos. 2 and 3 teams prevailed in their matches. First, Embree and Mather downed Mallory Burdette and Tan, 8-1. But the Cardinal tied it when Hilary Barte and Lindsay Burdette beat Florida’s No. 1 team of Boonstra and Will, 8-4.
That left it to Caroline Hitimana and Anastasia Revzina, who came through with an 8-6 victory over Stanford’s Veronica Li and Carolyn McVeigh to put Florida up 1-0.
“I thought we played terrific in doubles all year and today was no different,” Thornqvist said. “For some reason, we got off to a slow start in singles. It looked really grim there for a while, but just like we talked about all year long, we were resilient. Stanford played at a high level from the beginning of the match. In the first 20 minutes of singles, balls were whipping past us left and right. For us to slow that down and use our athleticism and neutralize some of that pace was great.”
Stanford tied it at 1-1 when Tan came back with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Revzina at No. 4 singles. That was followed by Lindsay Burdette’s 6-3, 6-3 victory over Will at No. 2.
At that point, the Gators were leading on only one court and tenuous in the three other matches remaining. The sure thing came through when Embree finished off Barte in a battle of Top 10 players, 6-4, 6-3, to even the match at 2-2.
Florida, however, was down a set in the other three matches at Nos. 3, 5 and 6. McVeigh took the first set from Mather at No. 5 singles, 7-5, but Mather came back to take a 4-1 lead in the second set.
The matches at Nos. 3 and 5 were even more pressure-packed for the Gators. At No. 3, Boonstra was down a set to Mallory Burdette (4-6) and trailed in the second set, 6-5. But Boonstra held serve to send the second set into a tiebreaker. Boonstra then won the second set, 7-6, by winning the tiebreaker, 7-4.
At the same time, Hitimana, who lost the first set 3-6, trailed 4-5 against Li at No. 6. Hitimana, however, held serve to tie the second set at 5-5, only to have Li finish off the match by winning the final two games for a 6-3, 7-5 victory and a 3-2 Stanford lead.
So that left it up to Mather and Boonstra to deliver the championship hardware. Mather, however, was struggling at No. 5 singles, losing three straight games to McVeigh, who held serve to even the second set at 4-4.
But Mather held service to take a 5-4 lead, and that seemed to give her the energy to finish off the second set by breaking McVeigh for a 6-4 set win.
Meanwhile, freshman Mallory Burdette was giving senior Boonstra all she could handle in their third set, winning the first two games, breaking Boonstra in the first. But Boonstra held serve in the third game as the match on the fifth court moved into its third set.
Mather took a 1-0 lead on serve in her third set and Boonstra then broke Mallory Burdette for a 2-2 tie at No. 3, and it was clear to everyone watching that this one likely would go down to the wire.
Boonstra then held serve to go up 3-2 in the third set and Mather broke McVeigh and then held serve to go up 3-0 in the third set.
Burdette, however, dug deep, holding her serve and breaking Boonstra for a 4-3 lead with a chance to go up 5-3 if she held serve.
With Mather seemingly in control of her match, Boonstra knew the title would be on her racquet. With Burdette serving, Boonstra won the first point, lost the second, won the third point, lost the fourth and then won the fifth and sixth points to tie the match at No. 3, 4-4, and regain her service advantage.
As Boonstra and Burdette exchanged points in the ninth game, Mather served out the fifth game for a 5-0 lead. Boonstra then won the final three points on serve to take a 5-4 lead, putting the Gators within two service breaks – one at No. 3 and one at No. 5 – of the team championship.
Mather and Boonstra both won the first point, but McVeigh and Burdette came back to tie both games at 15-15. Mather took a 40-15 lead in her match while Burdette went ahead 40-15.
Mather broke McVeigh to win the third set, 6-0, for a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory and a 3-3 tie, putting the match on Boonstra’s shoulders. She battled back to 30-40 but Burdette held service to tie the third set at 5-5.
Burdette took the first point of the 11th game but Boonstra battled back to make it 15-15. Burdette then won the next three points to win the game and take a 6-5 lead. So Boonstra needed to break Burdette to send their match into a third-game tiebreaker and then win the tiebreaker for Florida to win the title.
Burdette, however, won the first three points to give herself three match points. Boonstra knocked off two of them, but Burdette served with a 40-30 lead and won the point, giving herself a 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 victory and Stanford the team title. The loss snapped Boonstra’s 17-match singles winning streak and completed her singles career with a 77-16 record, including 60-9 in dual match competition.
Boonstra, however, will play in the doubles competition along with partner Will. Boonstra is 73-21 in doubles for her career, and she’s 22-3 with Will. Boonstra and Will meet Michigan’s Whitney Taney and Rika Tatsuno in the first round.
The doubles team of Embree and Revzina also are in the 32-team draw. Embree and Revzina meet California’s Mari Anderson and Jana Juricova. Revzina has a 99-23 career record in doubles and is 17-3 with Embree this season.
Meanwhile, Embree and Will are both seeded in the singles competition that begins Wednesday. Will, seeded seventh, meets Washington State’s Liudmila Vasilieva at 6 p.m. Will is 46-4 in singles and 35-6 in doubles.
Embree, seeded 9-16, meets California’s Anderson at 5:30 p.m. Embree is 32-5 in singles play, including 20-3 in dual-match action, all at No. 1, and 37-6 in doubles. All of those records contributed to Embree being named the ITA National Rookie Player of the Year
NCAA DIVISION I WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / Tuesday, May 25, 2010
No. 8 STANFORD 4, No. 3 FLORIDA 3
DOUBLES
1. (2) Hilary Barte-Lindsay Burdette (S) def. (5) Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (F), 8-4; 2. (29) Lauren Embree-Joanna Mather (F) def. (56) Mallory Burdette-Stacey Tan (S), 8-1; 3. Carolina Hitimana-Anastasia Revzina (F) def. Veronica Li-Carolyn McVeigh (S), 8-6. Order of finish: 2, 1, 3. Florida wins doubles point, 2-1.
SINGLES
1. (9) Lauren Embree (F) def. (4) Hilary Barte, 6-4, 6-3; 2. (83) Lindsay Burdette (S) def. (8) Allie Will, 6-3, 6-3; 3. (33) Mallory Burdette (S) def. (65) Marrit Boonstra, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5; 4. (86) Stacey Tan (S) def. (102) Anastasia Revzina, 6-2, 6-2; 5. Joanna Mather (F) vs. Carolyn McVeigh, 5-7, 6-4, 6-0; 6. Veronica Li (S) def. (107) Caroline Hitimana, 6-3, 7-5. Order of finish: 4, 2, 1, 6, 5, 3.
Records: Florida 29-3, Stanford 26-1.
SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / First round / Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Seedings: (1) Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech); (2) Jana Juricova (California); (3) Maria Sanchez (Southern California); (4) Hilary Barte (Stanford); (5) Lenka Broosova (Baylor); (6) Yasmin Schnack (UCLA); (7) Allie Will (Florida); (8) Laura Vallverdu (Miami, Fla.).
(9-16): Lauren Embree (Florida); Denise Dy (Washington); Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee); Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia); Maria Mosolova (Northwestern); Anastasia Petukhova (Fresno State); Venise Chan (Washington); Kristy Frilling (Notre Dame).
MATCHES
10 a.m.: (9-16) Kristy Frilling (Notre Dame) vs. Josipa Bek (Clemson); Martina Pavelec (Wake Forest) vs. Kristi Boxx (Mississippi); Nadja Gilchrist (Georgia) vs. Nadine Fahoum (Old Dominion); (9-16) Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee) vs. Nazari Urbina (Texas A&M); (2) Jana Juricova (California) vs. Catherine Newman (Vanderbilt).
11 a.m.: (9-16) Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia) vs. Martina Rubesova (Northwestern State); (6) Yasmin Schnack (UCLA) vs. Nina Secerbegovic (Baylor).
11:30 a.m.: Jenifer Widjaja (Pacific) vs. Sanaz Marand (North Carolina); Irene Rehberger (South Florida) vs. Jennifer Heinser (San Francisco).
12 p.m.: (5) Lenka Broosova (Baylor) vs. Lauren McCreless (Florida State); (9-16) Denise Dy (Washington) vs. Pichittra Thongdach (Boise State).
12:30 p.m.: (1) Irina Falconi (Georgia Tech) vs. Jackie Wu (Vanderbilt).
1 p.m.: Eliah Nze (Duke) vs. Elisabeth Fournier (Washington State); Danielle Lao (Southern California) vs. Zaruhi Harutyunyan (Akron).
1:30 p.m.: Marina Cossou (California) vs. Samantha Murray (Northwestern); Anouk Tigu (Arkansas) vs. Reka Zsilinszka (Duke).
2 p.m.: (9-16) Maria Mosolova (Northwestern) vs. Holly Cao (Harvard).
2:30 p.m.: Lindsey Hardenbergh (Virginia) vs. Fani Chifchieva (Auburn); (3) Maria Sanchez (Southern California) vs. McCall Jones (Brigham Young); Denise Muresan (Michigan) vs. Katrina Tsang (North Carolina).
3 p.m.: (9-16) Anastasia Petukhova (Fresno State) vs. Micaela Hein (Arizona State); Bianca Eichkorn (Miami, Fla.) vs. Nina Munch-Soegaard (Texas Christian).
3:30 p.m.: (8) Laura Vallverdu (Miami, Fla.) vs. Aeriel Ellis (Texas); Noelle Hickey (UCLA) vs. Lutfiana Budiharto (Wichita State).
4 p.m.: Kristina Nedeltcheva (UNLV) vs. Andrea Remynse (UCLA); Selma Babic (Long Island) vs. Ute Schnoy (Denver).
5:30 p.m.: (9-16) Venise Chan (Washington) vs. Marta Lesniak (SMU); Alison Ramos (Southern California) vs. Elze Potgieter (Texas A&M); Alexa Guarachi (Alabama) vs. Mallory Burdette (Stanford); (9-16) Lauren Embree (Florida) vs. Mari Andersson (California).
6 p.m.: (7) Allie Will (Florida) vs. Liudmila Vasilieva (Washington State); (4) Hilary Barte (Stanford) vs. Michaela Kissell (Marshall).
DOUBLES CHAMPIONSHIP / Dan Magill Tennis Complex / University of Georgia / Athens, Ga. / First round / Thursday, May 27, 2010
Seedings: (1) Natalie Pluskota-Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee); (2) Hilary Barte-Lindsay Burdette (Stanford); (3) Kristy Frilling-Kali Krisik (Notre Dame); (4) Andrea Remynse-Yasmin Schnack (UCLA).
(5-8): Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (Florida); Gabriela Mejia-Laura Vallverdu (Miami, Fla.); Josipa Bek-Ina Hadziselimovic (Clemson); Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia).
MATCHES
(1) Natalie Pluskota-Caitlin Whoriskey (Tennessee) vs. Joyce Ardies-Denise Dy (Washington); Anna Redecsi-Selma Salkovic (DePaul) vs. Holly Dowse-Emma Hayman (College of Charleston); (5-8) Marrit Boonstra-Allie Will (Florida) vs. Whitney Taney-Rika Tatsuno (Michigan); Stephanie Dalmacio-Delia Damaschin (Wichita State) vs. Carolina de los Santos-Valentina Galbarini (Stetson).
(2) Hilary Barte-Lindsay Burdette (Stanford) vs. Irina Falconi-Sasha Krupina (Georgia Tech); Alexa Guarachi-Courtney McLane (Alabama) vs. Lauren Megale-Pichittra Thongdach (Boise State); (5-8) Josipa Bek-Ina Hadziselimovic (Clemson) vs. Michaela Kissell-Dominica Zaprazna (Marshall); Csilla Borsanyi-Lenka Broosova (Baylor) vs. Brittany Blalock-Suzie Matzenauer (Cal Poly).
(3) Kristy Frilling-Kali Krisik (Notre Dame) vs. Sophie Grabinsk-Sanaz Marand (North Carolina); Elena Chernyakova-Lauren Lui (Northwestern) vs. Kayla Duncan-Katarina Tuohimaa (Texas Christian); (5-8) Nadja Gilchrist-Chelsey Gullickson (Georgia) vs. Merel Beelen-Sonja Molnar (Iowa); Sasha Kulikova-Kathryn Talbert (Wake Forest) vs. Kristi Boxx-Karen Nijssen (Mississippi).
(4) Andrea Remynse-Yasmin Schnack (UCLA) vs. Joanna Dobrowolska-Nadine Fahoum (Old Dominion); Melissa Koning-Irene Rehberger (South Florida) vs. Hilary Bartlett-Taylor Marable (Princeton); (5-8) Gabriela Mejia-Laura Vallverdu (Miami) vs. Sophia Bergner-Ute Schnoy (Denver); Mari Anderson-Jana Juricova (California) vs. Lauren Embree-Anastasia Revzina (Florida).