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Tennessee Drops 6-1 Decision to No. 4 Florida
April 09, 2010 | Women's Tennis
April 9, 2010
By Donnie Conley, Media Relations Student Assistant
KNOXVILLE, Tenn--The No.16-ranked University of Tennessee women's tennis team battled hard against No. 4 Florida, but in the end, the Gators walked away with a 6-1 victory at the newly renamed Barksdale Stadium.
Florida (19-2, 9-0) came out of the gate strong, earning the doubles point thanks to victories at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions. Tennessee's top pair of Caitlin Whoriskey and Maria Sorbello topped the No. 5-ranked Gator duo of Allie Will and Marrit Boonstra, 8-6, moving to 12-0 on the season.
The Lady Vols (12-7, 6-3 SEC) are now 0-4 on the season when dropping the doubles point. Today's defeat also marked the first home loss of the season for the Big Orange.
Four of the six singles matches went to three sets, something co-head coach Mike Patrick said is a testament to his team's mentality.
"We gave a good effort," Patrick said. "We came up short in a lot of the third sets but it was good to see everybody compete well. Hopefully, we'll regroup, get over this one and be focused for Sunday and come out and play as well or maybe better."
In singles play, Claire Bartlett started the action, defeating Kata Szekely, 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 6 spot. Tennessee senior Caitlin Whoriskey then saw her four-match winning streak come to end, as she fell 6-4, 7-5 to Florida freshman Lauren Embree.
Junior Jennifer Meredith earned UT's lone point of the day, besting Florida sophomore Joanna Mather, 6-4, 4-6, 6-0, in a battle of Georgia natives. Meredith hails from Marietta, Ga. while Mather's hometown is Duluth, Ga.
Florida clinched the match thanks to freshman Allie Wall's 18th consecutive singles win, a 6-3, 5-7, 6-0 victory over No. 67 Maria Sorbello. Shortly thereafter, Rosalía Alda dropped a hard-fought, 7-6, 2-6, 1-6 decision to Boonstra.
Anastasia Revzina outlasted Zsófia Zubor in the final match of the day, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Tennessee will be off tomorrow before returning to action Sunday at 1 p.m. as it hosts No. 15 South Carolina at Barksdale Stadium (Formerly the Varsity Tennis Courts). Sunday's contest will be the final home match for Lady Vol seniors Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsófia Zubor.
"Hopefully those two will come out and play well and finish up on a great note," Patrick said. "They've been great players for us and have led us in a lot of matches over the last four years.
"We'll have to be ready for South Carolina. They're a really good team. We're excited about playing them and we'll see what we can do."
If fans can't attend, live scoring for Sunday's match will be available on UTLadyVols.com. Fans are also reminded to follow the Lady Vols on Twitter at www.twitter.com/UTLadyVols
No. 4 Florida 6, No. 16 Tennessee 1
Singles
1. No. 14 Lauren Embree (UF) def. No. 11 Caitlin Whoriskey (UT), 6-4, 7-5
2. No. 9 Allie Will (UF) def. No. 67 Maria Sorbello (UT), 7-5, 3-6, 6-0
3. No. 79 Marrit Boonstra (UF) def. Rosalia Alda (UT), 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-1
4. Anastasia Revzina (UF) def. Zsofia Zubor (UT), 4-6, 6-2, 7-5
5. Jennifer Meredith (UT) def. Joanna Mather (UF), 6-4, 4-6, 6-0
6. Claire Bartlett (UF) def. Kata Szekely (UT), 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: (6,1,5,2*,3,4)
Doubles
1. No. 66 Whoriskey/Sorbello (UT) def. No. 5 Will/Boonstra (UF), 8-6
2. Embree/Mather (UF) def. No. 22 Alda/Zubor (UT), 8-4
3. Hitimana/Revzina (UF) def. Szekely/Lee (UT), 9-7
Order of Finish: (2,3,1)
* indicates clinching point
