2004 Division I Women's Tennis Championsip:
Florida 4, Hampton 0
May 15, 2004
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Top-seeded Florida raced past Hampton 4-0 in the first
round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Friday evening at Linder Stadium
at Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators (23-0) next face Miami on Saturday at 5
p.m. in the second round. The Hurricanes (18-3) defeated South Alabama 4-1
in their opening round contest.
"After four weeks off, we were all pretty happy to finally play someone
else besides each other and I thought we did really well," UF head coach
Roland Thornqvist said. "Hampton had a couple of hard hitters at the top
of the lineup and I thought we did a good job of countering their pace. We
dominated at the bottom of the lineup. I'm pretty happy with how the first
day went."
Florida needed just 35 minutes to secure the doubles point and carried that
momentum onto the singles court, where the Gators posted three victories in
57 minutes secure the dual match and record their 40th consecutive win.
"We have four freshmen girls and we drew the nation's No. 1 team," Hampton
head coach Dr. Robert Screen said. "Florida was very tenacious. If it
took 20 balls to win a point, they would hit 20. If it took 30 to win a point,
they would hit 30. We just made too many unforced errors. These girls were
intimidated by the situation much more than I thought they would be. I'm disappointed
in that."
Hampton (17-6) ends its season in the first round of the NCAA Championships
against a team from the Southeastern Conference for the third consecutive year.
The Gators took control early in singles and soon afterwards, the greatest
suspense came in which courts would complete before UF clinched the dual match.
Florida senior Lindsay Dawaf (Olney, Md.) dismantled Hampton freshman Vivian
Costa 6-0, 6-0 in 36 minutes at the No. 5 position to post her 20th consecutive
victory and remain undefeated this season.
Sophomore Boglarka Berecz (Hungary) then gave Florida a 3-0 lead after topping
Katerina Jiskrova 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 4 spot. Berecz actually opened her match
losing serve, but regrouped to win the next eight games en route to her eighth
consecutive victory.
Senior Julie Rotondi (Hingham, Mass.) provided the clinching point with a
6-0, 6-3 win at the No. 6 position against Jana Korycankova. Rotondi dominated
the Pirate freshman early, winning the first 10 points of the match.
Jennifer Magley (Bradenton, Fla.) and Zerene Reyes (Mexico) led 5-0 and 5-1
in the second set of their respective singles courts when play was abandoned.
Alexis Gordon (Windsor, Conn.) was in a battle on the No. 1 court, where she
won the first set 6-4 and was even after two games when the match stopped.
Florida 4, Hampton 0
Doubles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon/Julie Rotondi (4), UF def. Krystina Pesatova/Elena Besedova,
HU 8-2
No. 2 Jennifer Magley/Zerene Reyes (19), UF led Alena Mitackova/ Katerina Jiskrova,
HU 7-2 (abandoned)
No. 3 Boglarka Berecz/Nina Suvak, UF def. Vivian Costa/Jana Korycankova, HU
8-1*
Singles
No. 1 Alexis Gordon (2), UF led Krystina Pesatova, HU 6-4, 1-1
No. 2 Jennifer Magley (20), UF led Alena Mitackova, HU 6-1, 5-0
No. 3 Zerene Reyes (66), UF led Elena Besedova, HU 6-0, 5-1
No. 4 Boglarka Berecz (82), UF def. Katerina Jiskrova, HU 6-1, 6-1
No. 5 Lindsay Dawaf (116), UF def. Vivian Costa, HU 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 Julie Rotondi (72), UF def. Jana Korycankova, HU 6-0, 6-3*
Order of Finish: Doubles-1, 3; Singles-5, 4, 6
*Clinching Doubles/Match Point
