In the third set of the last singles match to decide the championship, Marrit Boonstra was one game away from an ideal ending to her college career.
She was up 5-4 over Mallory Burdette, and needed only one more game to make her team the new national champions.
The third set ended 7-5, with Boonstra on the losing end.
“My heart just aches for Marrit (Boonstra),” UF coach Roland Thornqvist said. “She has given this program everything she has. It’s just not fair for it to come down to a result like this for her.”
The Cardinal won five of six first sets, putting the pressure on Florida to force at least two matches into a third set.
Anastasia Revzina fell short on the Gators’ first attempt to extend the match. She lost 6-2, 6-2 to Stacey Tan on court No. 4.
Stanford looked to be on the path to victory when No. 8 Allie Will’s 26-match winning streak was snapped by Lindsay Burdette in a 6-3, 6-3 loss at the No. 2 spot.
No. 9 Lauren Embree swung the momentum back in Florida’a favor with an upset against No. 4 Hilary Barte 6-4, 6-4.
With the match tied, three Gators who lost their first sets were all in the middle of trying to put together come-from-behind wins.
Caroline Hitimana fell short of a comeback at court No. 6 , but a win by Joanna Mather meant the championship trophy came down to No. 65 Boonstra and No. 33 Mallory Burdette.
Boonstra fell short in the first set, 6-4, but edged Burdette in the second, 7-6.
Boonstra battled to a 5-4 lead in the third, but Burdette held service to tie the match 5-5. After Burdette took the following game, Boonstra failed to force another tiebreaker, losing the set 7-5.
Individual Championships: An impressive run that included singles wins over Nos. 4, 7, 10 and 11 came to end for No. 8 Embree.
No. 35 California’s Mari Andersson knocked off the ITA National Rookie of the Year in the three sets 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.
After amassing a 26-match winning streak, Will made sure her losing streak stopped at one.
The No. 8 freshman bounced back from Tuesday’s loss with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Washington State’s No. 61 Liudmila Vasilieva on Wednesday.
The win advances Will to today’s round of 32. Boonstra will be joining Will for the round of 32 in the doubles portion of the NCAA Individual Championship.
They will be joined by the No. 29 team of Embree and Mather.
