The Florida Gators women’s tennis team ended its regular season Saturday morning with a 4-2 victory over South Carolina in Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex. The victory helped the Gators secure a first-round bye in the Southeastern Conference Women’s Tournament that begins Thursday at Fayetteville, Ark.
Florida (13-8, 7-4 SEC) extended its program-record regular-season home winning streak to 76.
After collecting the doubles point with a pair of victories, Florida got singles victories from Marrit Boonstra, Joanna Mather and Jessica Alexander to defeat South Carolina (13-9, 6-5 SEC).
“I think we do a terrific job playing at home,” Florida women’s coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We love playing here in front of our crowd. I see our level of play go up a notch. We’ve done a great job of closing out matches. In doubles, we were in trouble in two matches that we had to win and dialed up the right number at the end of each match. Marrit continues to excel as does Joanna, and Jessica continues to get better and better every week.”
Florida got victories from its Nos. 1 and 2 doubles teams to take a 1-0 lead. South Carolina’s Miki Jocic and Suzie Mansour won the No. 3 doubles match by downing Brooke Allen and Lauren Wolken, 8-1, forcing the Gators to win the next two doubles matches to gain the doubles point.
That’s exactly what happened. Boonstra and Mather combined for an 8-6 victory over South Carolina’s Natasa Vuckovic and Ana Zubori at No. 1. Then Jessica Alexander and Anastasia Revzina beat Gira Schofield and Dijana Stojic, 8-5, at No. 2.
South Carolina tied the match with a victory at No. 2 singles. Alexander came back two minutes later to finish off a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Natasa Vuckovic in 70 minutes at No. 4 singles.
Once again, however, the Lady Gamecocks evened up the team score with a victory at No. 6 singles.
But Mather finished off a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Dijana Stojic at No. 3 singles. Mather was down 3-0 and two breaks but won 12 of the next 13 games to produce her ninth consecutive victory and ending Stojic’s eight-match winning streak.
Boonstra, ranked No. 8 nationally, got a huge battle from No. 41-ranked Gira Schofield at No. 1 singles but eventually prevailed with a 6-4, 6-3 victory. Once Boonstra clinched the team match, the No. 5 singles match involving Florida freshman Barbara Pinterova was halted.
WOMEN’S TENNIS
FLORIDA 4, SOUTH CAROLINA 2
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, Fla.
DOUBLES
1. (57) Marrit Boonstra/Joanna Mather (UF) def. (40) Natasa Vuckovic/Ana Zubori, 8-6.
2. (50) Jessica Alexander/Anastasia Revzina (UF) def. Gira Schofield/Dijana Stojic, 8-5.
3. Miki Jocic/Suzie Mansour (USC) def. Brooke Allen/Lauren Wolken, 8-1.
Florida won the doubles points, 2-1.
SINGLES
1. (8) Marrit Boonstra (UF) def. (41) Gira Schofield, 6-4, 6-3.
2. (51) Ana Zubori (USC) def. (40) Anastasia Revzina, 6-2, 6-1.
3. Joanna Mather (UF) def. Dijana Stojic, 6-4, 6-0.
4. Jessica Alexander (UF) def. Natasa Vuckovic, 6-1, 6-2.
5. Barbara Pinterova (UF) led Miki Jocic, 6-2, 5-5, DNF.
6. Suzie Mansour (USC) def. Brooke Allen, 6-3, 6-0.
Order of finish: Doubles – 3, 1, 2; Singles – 2, 4, 6, 3, 1.