The No. 23 Florida women’s tennis team pulled off a stunner Friday afternoon at Linder Stadium in the Ring Tennis Complex – a 4-3 victory over No. 2 Georgia.
Florida (8-5, 2-1 SEC) captured the crucial doubles point before getting singles victories from Marrit Boonstra, Anastasia Revzina and Joanna Mather to complete the upset of Georgia (11-2, 2-1 SEC).
The victory extended the Gators’ remarkable regular-season home winning streak to 71, while Florida improved to 142-1 all-time at home against Southeastern Conference foes.
“It’s way up there,” said Florida coach Roland Thornqvist. “This Georgia team is incredibly talented. They have one of the better players in the country at each position, so for us to win today shows the heart and toughness our team has. The crowd helped us so much. We played with more passion when they got into it. Our players continue to find that inner strength and what they need to do to win matches. Our players are finding ways to make the impossible possible and it’s special to be a part of that.”
Revzina provided the clinching heroics on Friday, as she kept her composure and her nerves in-check to come through with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Yvette Hyndman on court No. 2. After winning the first set with relative ease, Revzina jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second before Hyndman battled back, breaking Revzina in the 10th game to force a deciding third. That’s where the veteran Gator junior raced out to a 4-0 lead, eventually breaking Hyndman in the final game to clinch the dual match on her second match-point attempt.
“I was so focused from that very first point of the third set because I knew that if I won, our team would win, but if I lost, our team would lose,” Revzina shared. “It was unbelievable. I wanted to hit every ball. When it was done, I was so full of emotion.”
Mather’s impressive 7-6 (4), 6-2 victory over 51st-ranked Nadja Gilchrist on court No. 3 gave Florida a 3-2 lead in the team scoring. Boonstra, ranked No. 8 in the country, provided Florida with its first singles win of the night, taking the featured match against sixth-ranked Chelsey Gullickson, 6-3, 6-2.
Florida earned the first team point of the match when the doubles pair of Boonstra and Mather zipped past Lara Fakhoury and Yvette Hyndman, 8-0, on court No. 2, before Jessica Alexander and Revzina collected a 9-7 thriller over Chelsey Gullickson and Nadja Gilchrist.
The Gators continue their unusual underdog role Sunday, playing host to No. 12 Tennessee at 1 p.m.
MEN’S GOLF: Senior Will Strickler shot a 2-under-par 70 in the opening round to lead Florida to a first-round score of 2-over-par 290 and a fifth-place standing in the Southern Highlands Collegiate Championship in Las Vegas. Strickler is in seventh place, just three shots off the lead, while fellow senior Billy Horschel is tied for eighth at 1-under-par 71.
“Will went out first and played well all day long,” said head coach Buddy Alexander. “Billy was his usual self today and Max had a good showing in his first start for us.”
Freshman Max Kieffer of Germany shot two-over-par 74 in his first appearance in the team lineup and is tied for 23rd. Junior Tim McKenney rounded out the day’s scoring with a three-over-par 75, good enough for a share of 33rd place. Senior Toby Ragland finished at five-over-par 77 and is tied for 52nd.
Clemson leads at 5-under-par 283. Host UNLV is second, two strokes back. Arizona is third at 1-under-par 287, two strokes up on Georgia Tech with the Gators following.
Four players are tied for the individual lead at 5-under-par 67 – USC’s Matthew Giles, Clemson’s Ben Martin, UNLV’s Colby Smith and Georgia Tech’s Cameron Tringale.
MEN’S TENNIS: No. 8 Florida ran afoul of No. 4 Georgia and the elements Friday in dropping a 4-3 decision to the host Bulldogs in a Southeastern Conference matchup. Rain forced the match to be played indoors.
Florida began the match with a 1-0 deficit after dropping the doubles point for the third time this season. The Gators did earn one doubles victory however, as No. 80 Carlos Cueto of Spain and Alex Lacroix of France defeated Josh Varela and Christian Vitulli, 8-3.
In the same week that he was named SEC Player of the Week, No. 34 Lacroix evened the match at 1-1 after downing No. 60 Jamie Hunt in straight sets, 6-0, 7-6.
After a Georgia win, freshman Joey Burkhardt kept the Orange and Blue in the match once again, winning 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 against Josh Varela.
But Georgia’s Nate Shnugg and Drake Bernstein sealed the victory with defeats of Cueto and Johnny Hamui. Sophomore Jeff Dadamo added a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Georgia’s Christian Vitulli for the final outcome.
The Gators visit No. 6 Tennessee in Knoxville Sunday.