The No. 2 Florida women’s tennis team fell short of securing a spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship finals Sunday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Florida fell 4-0 to No. 3 North Carolina.
The Gators (5-1) battled this weekend to clinch a semifinals spot, defeating No. 13 Clemson in their first-round matchup and with their victory against No. 10 host team Virginia in the quarterfinals match.
"Playing in the semifinal of any national event is obviously a big accomplishment, but the passing of coach [Dean] Smith (former UNC men’s basketball coach) last night magnified the significance of this match against North Carolina even more for me, personally," coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. "He was a hero of mine both on the court and off the court. And for any Tar Heel, today certainly was a bittersweet day. If we were going to lose to anyone, perhaps losing to the Tar Heels today makes the pill easier to swallow."
After losing the doubles point, Florida was unable to bounce back against the undefeated Tar Heels (8-0). The Gators dropped the doubles point for the second time in three matches.
The Gators’ No. 1 doubles pairing, No. 7 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, got an early 6-1 victory over the No. 13 Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle. Florida struggled at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles positions to allow UNC to take the early 1-0 lead.
And once singles play began, UNC proved to be too much for Florida.
Florida’s Belinda Woolcock and Peggy Porter dropped their matches on the Nos. 3 and 4 courts before UNC’s Ashley Dai clinched the win for the Tar Heels in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 takedown of No. 26 Kourtney Keegan on the No. 5 court.
After the Gators 2-1 outing this weekend, Florida improved to 49-13 all-time in National Indoor matches. They’ve won a total of 49 matches in the event’s 28 years.
"We’re going to head home and look forward to begin the outdoor portion of our schedule," Thornqvist said. "I’m really proud of the team, we’ve come a long way. Our freshmen certainly showed we have plenty of character, along with the skill to give us great hope for the rest of the season."
The Gators have a 10-day break before they face off with Florida State in Tallahassee on Feb. 18 at 4 p.m.
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Coach Roland Thornqvist said his team will try to learn from its mistakes after Florida fell to Vanderbilt in Sunday's SEC Tournament championship game. “We can start from zero in our preparations," he said.
