Florida
seniors Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Caroline Hitimana
(Waterloo, Belgium) stepped up and led the Gators to a hard-fought 4-2 win
against California and advanced to the semifinals of the NCAA Championships played
at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex at the Atkins Tennis Center on Sunday
afternoon.
Embree
and Hitimana have helped the Gators reach the ‘Final Four’ each of their four
years, as Florida will be playing the NCAA Semifinals for the 23rd time in the
last 27 years.
“It feels great to be back in the
semifinals,” shared Embree, who produced wins on the singles and doubles courts
Sunday and improved to 34-2 in NCAA dual match singles and doubles play. “Cal
is a really tough team and played great. There were some close doubles matches
and we were fortunate to pull it out.”
After
the Golden Bears (19-6) captured the doubles win on court two for the first
individual result of the dual match, the Gators remained focused and the
freshman pair of Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Brianna
Morgan (Beverly Hills, Calif.) earned an 8-4 win on court three before the
veteran pair of Embree and junior Sofie Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belgium)
clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 decision.
Florida
carried that momentum onto the singles courts early, where the Gators won the
first set on four of the six courts and seemed in control. The Bears, however,
battled back and evened the team scoring when fifth-ranked Zsofi Susanyi handed
No. 51 Alexandra Cercone (Seminole, Fla.) a 6-1, 6-1 setback that halted
the Gator junior’s 12-match win streak in addition to handing Cercone her first
ever loss in 11 NCAA dual match singles contests.
“I thought we played very well in
doubles and I was pleased with that,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist
said. “Other than court three where Zsofi Susanyi played out of her mind, we
started off well. The momentum switched a little bit and it was nice to see our
seniors carry the load for us today.”
Embree
gave Florida the 2-1 lead when she took down eighth-ranked Anett Schutting,
6-2, 6-0, in one hour and 25 minutes. The nation’s top-ranked singles player
opened the match with a break and never lost her serve throughout the match en
route to her 21st consecutive singles victory, as well as her 39th straight in
dual match play, while improving to 26-1 overall this year.
“I had a game plan going in and I
tried to stick with that,” shared Embree, who served out at love in the only
game lasting four points. “Our points were long and most of the games were,
too. There were a couple points I was fortunate enough to win and just came out
on top.”
Junior
Olivia Janowicz (Palm Bay, Fla.) moved Florida one win from victory when
she defeated Tayler Davis 6-1, 6-1 on court five in one hour and 40 minutes. The
Gator junior jumped out to a 3-0 lead behind a pair of breaks. She dropped her
serve in the fourth game, but got it right back in the next game en route to
winning the final three games to take the first set. The two competitors were
on serve through the first four games of the second set, when Davis collected a
break for a 3-2 lead. Janowicz broke right back and held at love for the 4-3
lead. The eighth game proved to be a battle that lasted seven minutes and Davis
managed to hold, before Janowicz held at love for the third time during the
match for a 5-4 lead. She then earned one final break to earn her 15th consecutive
singles victory and improved to a team-best 36-6 this season.
“Olivia’s
really hitting on all cylinders right now,” Thornqvist praised. “She’s
been automatic in her play. She manages herself really well and keeps great
composure. She’s almost like a senior in her play, she’s very steady. She doesn’t
get enough credit for her play like some of the players in the other positions.
The way she’s playing and staying focused in her play is very helpful for the
Gators.”
“It was a really tough match,”
Janowicz said. “We got things going quickly and it looked in our favor. Then it
started getting really close and I realized that they needed me and I wanted to
finish as quick as I could to help us out.
“She didn’t change how she played
through the entire match,” Janowicz continued. “The first set, I stayed super
consistent and stuck with my game plan. Then in the second I wasn’t doing those
same things. I went back to the old plan.”
One
minute later, Cal struck with a 7-5, 6-4 win on court two where Klara Fabikova defeated
Oyen and the Gator’s lead was trimmed, 3-2.
Attention
turned to courts four and six with Florida needing to win just one of those two
matches for a spot in the NCAA Semifinals.
Morgan
won her first set against Lynn Chi, but dropped the second and the two where in
the early stages of the third set of court four, while Hitimana was battling
Annie Groansson.
Hitimana
won the tight first set 6-3 and found herself down 2-0 to begin the second. She
held at love to get on the board and earned the break in a long fourth game
that featured duce six times. Hitimana then held at love for the second time in
the match and lost just one point in the next game for the break and a 4-2
lead. Her service game in the seventh also went to duce, but Hitimana held for
5-2 and won the first three points on Groansson’s serve en route to the 6-3,
6-2 dual-match clinching victory.
In
the highly contested doubles point, Collins and Morgan were on serve through
the first five games after they traded breaks against Tayler Davis and Kelly
Chui on court three, as Morgan fought off a break point to hold for 3-2. The Gators
then earned their second break of the match for 4-2, but couldn’t hold and Cal
went to the baseline tyring to get the eight-game pro-set back on serve. The
Gators battled right back and earn another break and then fought back in a
tough ninth game for the 6-3 lead. Collins blasted a forehand winner down the
line at break point for a 7-3 lead. UF wasn’t able to serve out for the victory
but capitalized on its second match point, as Morgan slammed an overhead for a
winner at the net to seal the win.
On
court one, the Embree and Oyen battled Lynn Chi and Schutting, as the match
opened with a pair of breaks. The Gators earned the second break in the next
game that went to duce 11 times. The fourth game was just as tight, as Embree
held on to win the 16-minute game that gave UF a 3-1 lead. The Gators continue
that momentum and earned a quick break for the 4-1 advantage, but Cal broke
right back and held, before earning another break to even the score at 4-all. The
Florida pair was able to capture the break after a six-duce game and Oyen held
for a 6-4 lead, as the Gators won the last two games to claim the doubles
point.
Top-seeded
Florida (26-2) will play No.
12 Stanford (20-4) in the semifinals on Monday at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT. The
Cardinal upset No. 4 Georgia, 4-1 in their quarterfinal match.
“We
played them in February and thought they were wicked good,” said Thornqvist of
the Cardinal. “We played really well to get out of that jam. I had a feeling
that they were going to do deep in this tournament. Obviously, we have some of
the same matchups that we did back in February so we’ll try to prepare as best
we can.”
In
the February 24 meeting between Florida and Stanford, the Cardinal claimed the
doubles point before the Gators rallied to win four of the five completed
singles matches. A weather delay forced action indoors with the team score tied
a 2-all. Courts one, three and four each had to finish inside the newly opened
Perry Tennis Facility, where Cercone posted a gutty 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win against
No. 10 Krista Hardebeck for the highest-ranked opponent she has defeated in her
career, and Morgan provided a 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 clinching win over Stacy Tan.
“We always have great, long matches
and we’re looking forward to having another one,” Embree shared of the battle
between Florida and Stanford.
“Stanford is looking really good
right now,” Thornqvist echoed Embree. “We beat them at the beginning of the
year, but this is a whole different time of year and the stakes are a lot
steeper. It’s going to be really intense.”
Sunday’s win was Florida’s 18th
consecutive overall victory, as well as its 16th straight in the NCAA Championships.
The Gator’s last postseason loss was a 4-3 decision to Stanford in the 2010
final.
Stanford leads the all-time
series against Florida, 17-13, including a 9-3 record in NCAA matchups and all
of those matchups have been in either the semifinals or final. The last two postseason
meetings both were thrilling 4-3 decisions in the final, with the Gators capturing
the 2011 national championship and the Cardinal the 2010 crown.
