Cheers echoed all night long through the Ring Tennis Complex. After backhand winners. After decisive break points. And after the final match point.
The screeching cheers didn’t come from the Florida faithful, though, but instead from the University of California players who faced a 3-0 match deficit and never quit.
The Golden Bears defeated the No. 11 Florida women’s tennis team 4-3 in the season’s dual-match opener after winning the final four singles matches.
“At times today we showed a really high level of play,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I thought that we had leads that slipped and that's going to cost you against a really talented Cal team. You know they compete really hard and if the door is open, you have to make sure you go through.”
The Gators seemed to plow through the door to start the day. They dominated doubles play. Freshman Sydney Berlin and 2018 First Team All-SEC member McCartney Kessler steamrolled through Cal’s duo of Olivia Hauger/Julia Rosenqvist (6-1), while the tandem of freshmen Marlee Zein and Anastasia Kharitonova won its first duos match (6-2). These two wins solidified a point for the Gators and took the match into singles play.
No. 29 Kessler controlled No. 47 Rosenqvist in straight sets (6-4, 7-5) for Florida’s first singles win. Berlin quickly followed suit finishing her match minutes later for her first dual singles win (6-3, 6-4) in a Gator uniform to put Florida up 3-0 on the match.
From that point on, it was all Cal.
Momentum slowly shifted as the grunts and shouts from the Golden Bears’ Katerina Stlokalova motivated her squad to three straight singles wins over Zein, Dimitrova and Kharitonova.
Down to one final match between Florida’s Ida Jarlskog and Hauger, all 121 people in attendance were paying attention court two for the decisive match.
After falling short in the first set, Jarlskog broke through to take a 5-3 lead in the second. Hauger fought back to win three straight sets to force a tiebreaker.
With momentum on the young freshman’s side, Hauger went on to win six straight points in the tiebreaker, and ultimately the match, to propel Cal over Florida.
The Gators debuted five new players in their starting lineup, and even though the group struggled in its singles play, finishing 1-4 combined, Thornqvist said he’s confident his newcomers will learn from this tough loss and get better.
“Youth is only bad if you're bad,” Thornqvist said. “If you're talented then it can be a positive. From what I saw today, I'm actually pretty excited. I think we can get a lot better in a hurry."
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Despite Wednesday's loss to California, UF women's tennis coach Roland Thornqvist said he’s confident his young group will learn from the defeat. “Youth is only bad if you're bad. If you're talented then it can be a positive," he said.
