The Gators women’s tennis team began the ITA Kickoff Weekend Saturday afternoon against UC Santa Barbara at the Ring Tennis Complex.
No. 11 Florida is one of 24 hosts across the nation participating in the 11th rendition of the tournament. The winner from this weekend will advance to the National Indoor Championships in Seattle from Feb. 8-11.
The Gators were 2-4 in dual-match singles play and undefeated in doubles play entering Saturday. That completely changed against the Gauchos, though, as Florida fell behind early in doubles play before stepping up in singles to claim its first victory of the season 4-2.
Florida will take on North Carolina State tomorrow at 2 p.m., with a trip to Seattle on the line, while UC Santa Barbara will take on Mississippi State in the consolation bracket.
“I was really pleased with how we were able to set aside the doubles loss and begin to compete in singles,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “It’s easy for a young team to sort of get down in the dumpster when you lose that, but I thought we did really well and competed hard in singles.”
The transfer tandem of Ida Jarlskog and Tsveta Dimitrova cruised to a 6-2 victory over Stephanie Yamada and Elizaveta Volodko. That was the lone win in doubles for Florida, though, as freshman duo Marlee Zein and Anastasia Kharitonova fell 6-4.
McCartney Kessler and Sydney Berlin controlled most of their match, leading almost the entire way and even holding a 5-3 lead at one point. However, UCSB’s Dominika Paterova and Anastasia Goncharova won three straight games and the decisive tiebreaker to clinch the doubles point for Santa Barbara.
No. 29 Kessler, swapping with No. 9 Jarlskog on the No. 2 court, started singles play for the Gators by dominating Volodko in straight sets (6-1, 7-5). Kharitonova followed suit finishing Goncharova (7-5, 6-3) to clinch another point for Florida.
UCSB’s No. 2 Paterova took center court in the Ring Tennis Complex, filling in for the Gauchos’ No. 1 Tiffany Lagarde, who was pulled prior to the beginning of the match. Paternova held her own against Jarlskog before going down in the first set, clutching her right knee after slipping. She kept playing but failed to win another game the rest of the match, falling to Jarlskog in straight sets (7-5, 6-0).
Needing one more point to seal the victory for Florida, Dimitrova clinched the win with a comeback of her own. After taking the first set 6-4, she quickly fell behind to trail 4-1 in the second. The Houston transfer roared back with crafty dropshots and backhand winners to force a tiebreaker. With momentum on her side, Dimitrova topped Yamada to secure the Gators first win of the season.
Though Florida found success today, coach Thornqvist still sees the missed opportunities and open chances left on the court and knows his Gators can capitalize on them moving forward.
“I think with some more experience and more time on the court, he said, “I’m hoping that we can make those windows of spells where we’re not playing at a high level less and less shorter and shorter.”
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Sophomore McCartney Kessler defeated UC Santa Barbara's Elizaveta Volodko in straight sets (6-1, 7-5) during the Gators' ITA Kickoff Weekend Saturday.
