Freshman McCartney Kessler saw her first action as a member of the women’s tennis team on Friday, and it didn’t go the way she had hoped.
Of the four Gators competing in singles competition at the Freeman Memorial Women’s Tennis Championships in Las Vegas, three of them tasted defeat. Kessler lost in her singles match against North Carolina’s Alexa Graham (6-1, 4-6, 6-4). Freshman Katie Kubicz dropped her match against UNLV’s Izumi Asano (6-4, 6-3) and senior Peggy Porter fell to Oklahoma State’s Vladica Babic (6-3, 6-2).
The lone winner in singles competition came from freshman Victoria Emma, who found herself not competing in the first round due to a walkover with her scheduled opponent, UCLA’s Ayan Broomfield. She defeated Oklahoma State’s Katie Stresnakova (2-6, 7-6, 6-4) which sends her into a quarterfinal match tomorrow with North Carolina’s Jessie Aney.
"McCartney played well and showed poise to come back after dropping her first set and forced a third in her debut match,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “Kate needs to be less volatile in her play and I believe we will see improvement.”
None of UF’s players scored a victory on the doubles court. Porter and Kubicz were defeated by North Carolina’s Makenna Jones and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (7-5) and Emma and Kessler dropped their match to Caroline Lampl and Kimberly Yee of Stanford (6-4).
Day 2 of the Freeman Memorial will kick off Saturday at 10 a.m., beginning with doubles play. The tournament will run through Monday.
"I'm excited to see what tomorrow brings and how we're able to make quick adjustments," Thornqvist said.
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Florida women's tennis coach Roland Thornqvist watched three of his four players competing in the singles bracket of the Freeman Memorial lose on Saturday.
