Freshman Brooke Austin was the only successful Gator in singles at the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships Thursday.
Five Gators traveled to Flushing, New York, for the four-day tournament, which is held at the same arena as the U.S. Open each year.
More 1,000 miles away from these women are the rest of their team playing a much smaller tournament in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. Sophomores Spencer Liang, Stefani Stojic and Belinda Woolcock will compete in the 2014 Lakewood Ranch Dick Vitale Intercollegiate Clay Court Classic today through Sunday.
The ITA tournament in New York that began Thursday is hosted by Columbia University at the USTA Billie Jean King Tennis Center.
No 4-seed Austin won to Virginia Tech’s Ilinca Stoica (6-2, 6-2) in Round 1 singles and is set to play Texas A&M’s Saska Gavrilovska today at 9 a.m. The 5-foot-3 right-hander was ranked No. 1 in Women’s Preseason Newcomer/ Freshman Rankings by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) for fall 2014.
For Junior Brianna Morgan, her singles experience ended on the court it started on, as she dropped straight sets to University of Michigan’s Emina Bektas, 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-3. Morgan was ranked No. 14 in Women’s Preseason Singles Rankings by the ITA.
Freshman Josie Kuhlman also fell in Round 1 Singles to No. 5-seed University of California, Berkeley’s, Maegan Manasse, 6-0, 6-1. Kuhlman was ranked No. 2 by the ITA in Women’s Preseason Newcomer/ Freshman Rankings.
Austin and Kourtney Keegan defeated University of Colorado, Boulder’s, Julyette Steur and Kyra Wojcik, 6-2, 6-1.
The tandem will play Oklahoma State’s Kelsey Laurente and Viktoriya Lushkova today at 3:30 p.m.
Doubles pair Kuhlman and freshman Peggy Porter dropped in Round 1 to University of California, Los Angeles’, Catherine Harrison and Kyle McPhillips (6-4, 6-2) Thursday afternoon.
As for the three Gators three hours south of Gainesville, Belinda Woolcock, Stefani Stojic and Spencer Liang will play against 11 other teams from states across the U.S.
No. 1-seed in singles Belinda Woolcock will play North Florida’s Julia Sbircea. No. 4-seed Stojic will face Boston College’s Emily Safron. Liang will play Oklahoma State’s Carla Tur Mari.
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Brianna Morgan swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
