Different players for Florida’s women’s tennis team have had their moments in the spotlight.
It was Ida Jarlskog who clinched multiple victories to become the Gators’ No. 1 tennis player earlier this season. On Friday, freshman Marlee Zein registered her second match-clinching victory in the win over LSU. Victoria Emma had her opportunity Sunday against Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
Florida claimed its second-straight victory over a top-25 opponent on the road Sunday, handing No. 12 Texas A&M its fifth loss of the season in a 4-2 win. Emma overcame a second-set slip and defeated Tatiana Makarova to clinch the victory for the Gators and her fifth win this season.
“It’s about a complete team performance, and we’ve had different people stepping up and get crucial wins all season long,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “Tonight that player was Victoria (Emma). She was the tougher player for all three sets.”
Florida (9-8, 6-4 SEC) started the match strong, claiming its first doubles point in two matches. Transfer tandem Jarlskog and Tsveta Dimitrova had its best victory of the season, defeating its first ranked opponent in No. 55 Renee McBryde and Katya Townsend (6-1). Kessler and Emma subsequently fell to No. 63 doubles pair Makarova and Jayci Goldsmith on Court 1 in a 6-3 battle.
Freshman duo Zein and Sydney Berlin pulled out a tight victory over No. 67 Riley McQuaid and Lucia Quiterio in a tiebreaker 7-6 (6-3) to seal the opening point for the Gators.
Though Florida captured the doubles point, Texas A&M (18-5, 6-4 SEC) broke even almost immediately.
The Aggies picked up a point following just three games on Court 2 after McCartney Kessler medically withdrew due to injury. No information on the severity of Kessler’s injury was released.
Berlin did her best to keep Florida in the match, notching her second-straight SEC victory over Dorthea Faa-Hviding 6-4, 6-0 after a dominant second-set performance. McQuaid quickly evened the score at two apiece after defeating Dimitrova in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-1.
Zein and Emma both broke through in their respective first sets to win them easily. Both saw their opponents fight back, however, with Makarova capturing the second set in just eight games over Emma, while McBryde took the freshman to a tiebreaker and barely forced another set.
In the third set, it was all Florida. Zein left no room for McBryde en route to a 6-2 third set victory and the Gators third point. Emma finished off Makarova 7-5 and claimed Florida’s fifth road victory.
“To me, the true sign of mental toughness in this game is how you respond when you get to a third set,” Thornqvist said. “Our players made the right decisions to close out the matches and that was the key difference.”
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Victoria Emma Emma defeated Texas A&M's Tatiana Makarova to clinch the victory for the Gators on Sunday.
