SORRENTO – Sophomore Jessica Yadloczky shot a career-best, 6-under-par 66 at the par-72, 6,356-yard RedTail Golf Course in Sorrento to take the individual first-round lead Sunday in the UCF Challenge.
Yadloczky, who had seven birdies, four of them on consecutive holes, was two strokes ahead of three golfers – Caroline Hedwall of Oklahoma State, Nicole Smith of Tennessee and Glory Yang of first-place UCLA, which totaled a 6-under 282 to lead the 18 teams in the field, 10 of which are ranked among the Top 10.
UCLA had a two-stroke lead on Arizona State (284) and four strokes on Oklahoma State and Louisiana State (286). Tennessee and Auburn were tied for fifth at 2-over-par 290. Southern California and Texas were at 291, a shot ahead of the Gators. Tournament host UCF was 18th after totaling 308.
Redshirt sophomore Lauren Uzelatz of Lakeland and freshman Andrea Watts of Bradenton each carded a 2-over-par 74 and are tied with others in 40th place. Uzelatz had offset an early double bogey with a pair of birdies but bogeyed her 15th and 17th holes. Watts overcame a double-bogey start with the help of three birdies.
Sophomore Nicole Schachner of Libertyville, Ill., shot 78 and was tied for 77th place. Freshman Evan Jensen of Belleair shot 79 and was tied for 80th place.
The second round of the tournament begins Monday at 9 a.m.
MEN’S TENNIS: No. 9 Florida improved to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference with 5-2 victory over No. 37 Vanderbilt Sunday at the Ring Tennis Complex/Linder Stadium. The loss was the sixth straight for the Commodores (4-8, 0-2 SEC) and Florida is now 10-0 at home.
“That was a good win in a difficult situation against a solid Vanderbilt team,” Florida coach Andy Jackson said. “We are excited to be 2-0 in conference play, with two of our next three matches against Top 10 teams.”
Sophomore Alex Lacroix of France and freshman Carlos Cueto of Spain needed just 32 minutes to defeat Vanderbilt’s Alex DiValerio and Charlie Jones, 8-2. The Gators then clinched the doubles point when Antoine Benneteau of France and Joey Burkhardt of St. Augustine beat Vandy’s Adam Baker and Alex Zotov, 8-5.
In the singles competition, sophomore Jeff Dadamo of Tampa beat Jones, 6-0, 6-2, to put Florida up 2-0. Lacroix followed with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Nick Cromydas to improve to 4-0 while playing at No. 1 singles. Burkhardt then clinched the match for Florida by downing Vijay Paul, 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.
Benneteau gave the Gators their final point in the match when he battled back to defeat Bryant Salcedo, 6-7 (7-3), 6-3, 1-0 (10-8).
The Gators are on the road this coming weekend at Georgia Friday (2:30 p.m.) and Tennessee Sunday (1 p.m.).
WOMEN’S TENNIS: No. 31 Florida evened its SEC record at 1-1 with a 5-2 victory over No. 33 Vanderbilt at Nashville, Tenn., Sunday. The victory improved the Gators to 7-5 heading into weekend matches with Georgia Friday (5 p.m.) and Tennessee Sunday (1 p.m.) at the Ring Tennis Complex/Linder Stadium.
“We talked a great deal about being tough, about being resilient and being competitive and we showed all of those things,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist said. “It was very windy today and the weather wasn’t great, but we handled both and were tough mentally.”
Florida won the doubles point after the No. 2 team of Marrit Boonstra and Joanna Mather got past Vandy’s Catherine Newman and Chelsea Preeg, 9-8. Florida won at No. 1 when Jessica Alexander and Anastasia Revzina beat Jackie Wu and Heather Steinbaurer, 8-1.
Alexander won the No. 4 singles match with a 6-2, 6-1 decision over Preeg to put Florida up 2-0. Boonstra, ranked eighth nationally, then defeated Catherine Newman, 6-4, 6-0. Revzina then clinched the match with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Wu at No. 2 singles and Mather followed with a 6-4, 6-4 victory at No. 3 singles over Kelly Ulery.