In the first round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Friday, Florida’s women’s tennis team defeated Wisconsin in a 5-0 blowout. During the second round of the tournament against Vanderbilt on Saturday, the Gators were on the other end of a shutout.
The Commodores routed UF 4-0 at Nielson Tennis Stadium on Saturday, handing Florida (3-3) its third loss in its last four matches.
Despite the lopsided score against Vanderbilt (6-0) — the No. 1 seed in the tournament and No. 2 team in the country — the Gators kept most of their matches close.
Both doubles contests ended 6-4, with the team of senior Anna Danilina and freshman Victoria Emma dropping its match to Vanderbilt’s Astra Sharma and Fernanda Contreras, while the duo of senior Josie Kuhlman and freshman McCartney Kessler were defeated by Emma Kurtz and Emily Smith, giving the Commodores a 1-0 lead.
In singles play, UF’s freshmen were the first to fall, with Katie Kubicz losing to Amanda Meyer 6-4, 6-4 and Kessler falling to Christina Rosca 1-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Kuhlman then dropped the clinching match of the meet to Contreras 6-4, 7-5, marking the first time Florida was shut out in the regular season since its 4-0 loss to North Carolina on Feb. 8, 2015.
“I know we're not in the business of giving out medals for second place, but I just feel overall, I'm pleased with our progress,” Thornqvist said. “Eventually there is going to be gold under the rainbow for this team."
Follow Rivers Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Florida women's tennis coach Roland Thornqvist witnessed his team suffer its first shutout in the regular season in over three years on Saturday, falling to Vanderbilt 4-0.
