Gainesville, Fla. ? Top-seeded Florida blanked the third-seeded Kentucky women?s tennis team 4-0 Sunday in the finals of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at UF?s Ring Tennis Complex giving the Gators their fifth-consecutive tournament title. The Cats? tremendous run in Gainesville, Fla., which included wins against No. 33 Alabama and No 8 Vanderbilt, ended just short of a title for the second straight season at the hands of the Gators.
The fourth-ranked Gators (21-1, 14-0 SEC) took control of the match early against No. 21 UK (17-9, 10-4 SEC) by claiming the doubles point. UF took the first match when the 41st-ranked team of Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon defeated Kentucky?s No. 35 duo of junior Kim Coventry and freshman Carolina Escamilla 8-2 at the top spot. At No. 3, Keri Robison and Nina Suvak beat UK?s tandem of senior Danielle Petrisko and junior Caroline Winebrenner by the same 8-2 score to put Florida up 1-0.
In singles action, the Gators made quick work of the Wildcats by winning three straight matches.
At the No.1 slot, 14th-ranked Gordon swept Coventry 6-2, 6-1. The victory was the second this season for Gordon over Coventry and improved her season record to 22-2.
Suvak put UF up 3-0 when she defeated Escamilla in straight sets at the fifth position. Suvak, a first team All-SEC selection, took both sets 6-2, 6-2 from the Medellin, Colombia, native.
Florida clinched its fifth-consecutive tournament title when No. 5 Diana Srebrovic turned back UK junior Lara Maurer 6-3, 6-1 at the No. 2 spot in the lineup. The win improved Srebrovic?s record to 33-8 on the season.
?I am grateful to our team for believing in themselves and playing smart under intense pressure,? head coach Carlos Drada said. ?Our team has grown tremendously during this semester. Everybody on our team (from our senior Danielle Petrisko down to our freshman Jessica Giuggioli) contributes in valuable ways on a daily basis.
?Today we faced a really tough opponent and they performed better than us under pressure. I believe that we will be stronger after having gone through this experience.
?We expect to use this momentum in a positive way during our regional tournament.”
Kentucky will now await the NCAA Tournament selection show on May 3 to see who its first-round opponent will be. The show can be seen on ESPNEWS beginning at 8:30 p.m. EDT. Last season, UK shook off a loss to Florida in the SEC tournament finals and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Fans can check ukathletics.com for the latest UK tennis information throughout the postseason.
No. 4 Florida def. No. 21 UK 4-0
Doubles
No. 1 #41 Benik/Gordon, UF, def. #35 Coventry/Escamilla, UK, 8-2
No. 2 Frangulyan/Srebrovic, UF, vs. #45 Schwenk/Maurer, UK, 5-4, suspended
No. 3 Robison/Suvak, UF, def. Petrisko/Winebrenner, UK, 8-2 (
Singles
No. 1 #14 Alexis Gordon, UF, def. #46 Kim Coventry, UK, 6-2, 6-1
No. 2 #5 Diana Srebrovic, UF, def. Lara Maurer, UK, 6-3, 6-1
No. 3 #124 Whitney Benik, UF, led Joelle Schwenk, UK, 6-3, 3-3, suspended
No. 4 #50 Boglarka Berecz, UF, led Danielle Petrisko, UK, 6-6 (5-2), suspended
No. 5 Nina Suvak, UF, def. Carolina Escamilla, UK, 6-2, 6-2
No. 6 Alex Lies, UF, led Jessica Giuggioli, UK, 6-3, 3-4, suspended
