Florida concluded its first tournament of the season Sunday by bringing home two singles titles while still leaving room for improvement in doubles play.
Freshman Brooke Austin won her first career singles title 6-3, 6-1 over teammate Kourtney Keegan in the Blue Draw final, capping an impressive Duke Fab Four Invite for the Indiana native. Austin did not lose a set in singles the entire weekend.
Gators coach Roland Thornqvist said he liked the way the all-Gators final was handled by both players.
“They are classy,” he said in a release. “They care more about each other than the outcome of the match. It’s a coach’s dream to see them play one another and support each other.”
Florida’s Belinda Woolcock also won a singles title Sunday, defeating Oklahoma State’s Viktoriya Lushkova in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2.
In the rest of singles play for the Gators, Brianna Morgan lost to Alabama’s Stephanie Wagner in the Black Draw final, Peggy Porter defeated Oklahoma State’s Kelsey Laurente in the Black Draw fifth-place match and Stefani Stojic lost to Virginia’s Stephanie Nauta in the Blue Draw fifth place match.
Also, Spencer Liang defeated Virginia’s Cassie Mercer in the Black Draw 13th-place match, and Josie Kuhlman won against Duke’s Ester Goldfeld in the White Draw third place match after Goldfeld retired following the first set.
In doubles, the Gators played well but were unable to capitalize in two finals opportunities.
The Florida pairing of Keegan and Kuhlman lost 8-4 in the Black Draw final against Oklahoma State’s Laurente and Lushkova, and Florida’s Spencer Liang and Belinda Woolcock were defeated 8-2 by Alabama’s Maya Jansen and Erin Routliffe in the Blue Draw final. UF’s doubles team of Austin and Morgan was able to win the White Draw third place match against Virginia’s Cassie Mercer and Skylar Morton.
“The team played well today,” coach Thornqvist said in the release. “They looked strong both physically and mentally. We still have some work to do, especially in doubles. That always comes along a bit later. We need more reps to learn how to finish our doubles matches.”
Doubles finals were originally supposed to be played Saturday, but were rescheduled to Sunday because of weather, which also caused singles play Saturday to be moved indoors.
Florida’s next tournament will be the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in Pacific Palisades, California, beginning on Sept. 27.
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Belinda Woolcock swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Louisville on Jan. 25 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
