In the third set of the last singles match to decide the championship, Marrit Boonstra was one game away from putting the finishing touches on the ideal ending to her college career.
She was the Most Valuable Player of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, she had clinched the victory in her last home match at UF and up 5-4 over Mallory Burdette, she needed only one more game to make her team the new national champions.
The third set ended 7-5, with Boonstra on the losing end.
“My heart just aches for Marrit (Boonstra),” UF coach Roland Thornqvist said after the match. “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.”
No. 8 Stanford’s Burdette sisters – Mallory and Lindsay – led the Cardinal’s singles assault that caused the No. 3 Gators (29-3) to drop four matches in singles for only the second time this season.
Florida started the match the right way. Freshman Lauren Embree and sophomore Joanna Mather won decisively on court No. 2 in doubles. After a rare loss from Boonstra and freshman Allie Will at the No. 1 position, senior Anastasia Revzina and freshman Caroline Hitimana secured the doubles point for UF with an 8-6 win at No. 3.
Similar to its 4-1 win over Notre Dame, Stanford proved it could make up the difference in singles.
The Cardinal won five of six first sets, putting the pressure on Florida to force at least two matches into a third set.
Revzina fell short on the Gators’ first attempt to extend the match. She lost 6-2, 6-2 to Stacey Tan on court No. 4.
Stanford looked to be on the path to another 4-1 victory when No. 8 Will’s 26-match winning streak was snapped by the Cardinal’s lone senior, Lindsay Burdette, in a 6-3, 6-3 loss at the No. 2 spot.
No. 9 Embree, who earlier in the day was named the ITA’s National Rookie of the Year, swung the momentum back in Florida’a favor with her most impressive win of the season, upsetting No. 4 Hillary Barte 6-4, 6-4.
With the match tied, three Gators who lost their first sets were all in the middle of trying to put together come-from-behind wins.
Hitimana fell short of a comeback at court No. 6 as she lost 6-3, 7-5 to Veronica Li.
With Stanford up 3-2, the fate of the Gators rested on the shoulders of Mather and Boonstra.
The Cardinal were looking ready to close out strong until Mather saw a 4-0 lead become a 4-4 tie. All the Duluth, Ga., native needed was a few words of encouragement.
“Dave (Balogh, UF assistant coach) told me to relax,” Mather said. “He reminded me that I had still won four games and wasn’t behind.”
From there, Mather cruised to a 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 victory in front of friends and family who made the 45 mile drive to Athens, Ga.
Her win meant the championship trophy came down to No. 65 Boonstra and No. 33 Mallory Burdette, the younger of the two sisters on the Cardinal and a native of Jackson, Ga., about 71 miles from the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
In the first set of their match, Boonstra rallied but fell short to lose 6-4. The second set, Boonstra fought off elimination winning a 7-4 tiebreaker to edge Burdette 7-6.
In the third set, the battle continued between a senior wanting to go out on top and a freshman wanting to send her senior sister out in style.
Boonstra battled to a 5-4 lead, but Burdette held service at 40-30 to tie the match 5-5. After Burdette took the following game, Boonstra failed to break her serve and force another tiebreaker, losing the set 7-5.
“It seemed like Mallory relaxed at 5-all and I thought that was the difference,” Thornqvist said.
The majority of contributors on the women’s team have hardly any time to relax themselves with the NCAA Individual Tournament beginning Wednesday. Will and Embree will take part in the singles portion of the tournament. They will be joined by Boonstra and Mather for the doubles portion which begins Thursday.
