The Gators opened the season in dominating fashion Friday at the 2014 Duke Fab Four Invite, showing promise for this year and providing a glimpse of the future of UF women’s tennis.
In singles, seven out of eight Gators advanced to the quarterfinals, including freshmen Brooke Austin, Josie Kuhlman and Peggy Porter.
And in doubles, two Gator duos advanced to the finals of their respective draws, which will be played Saturday.
“We had a fantastic day,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “I thought we played with courage and conviction in doubles. I was even more impressed with our singles play this early on. I thought our players looked fit, confident and very poised.
“Obviously there are things we can improve on but overall I was very pleased with our day.”
The doubles team of Kuhlman and sophomore Kourtney Keegan won its quarterfinals match convincingly over Miami duo Wendy Zang and Silvia Fuentes, 8-2, and then defeated the pairing of Virginia’s Marie Faure and Duke’s Rachel Kahan 8-5 to advance to the black draw final. There they will face Kelsey Laurente and Viktoriya Lushkova from Oklahoma State.
Also in the black draw was the pairing of Porter and sophomore Stefani Stojic, who lost in both their quarterfinal match and the consolation semifinals.
In the doubles blue draw, UF’s Spencer Liang and Belinda Woolcock defeated Virginia’s Maci Epstein and Stephanie Nauta, 8-7 (5), and Duke’s Ester Goldfeld and Samantha Harris, 8-5, to advance to the final, where they will meet conference foe Alabama in duo Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe.
Florida’s Brianna Morgan and Austin will play against Virginia’s Cassie Mercer and Skylar Morton in the white draw third place game after losing in the semifinals.
The entire UF team will be playing in singles matches Saturday, with Liang being the only one not playing in one of the three main draws after losing Friday.
According to Duke’s website, singles matches Saturday have been moved up to 9 a.m. due to potentially inclement weather, with the rest of the matches to start following their conclusion.
Follow Graham Hack on Twitter @graham_hack24
Kourtney Keegan swings at the ball on Oct. 11,2013 at the Bedford Cup at the Ring Tennis Complex.
