No. 1 Gators March Into NCAA Quarterfinals with Sweep

Friday, May 19

Athens, GA

7 PM

Florida Gators

Texas A&M (NCAA Round of 16)

Anna Danilina (left) and Ingrid Neel earned Florida's first win of the dual match.

No. 1 Gators March Into NCAA Quarterfinals with Sweep

Friday, May 19, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Round of 16 Results Head Coach Roland Thornqvist Belinda Woolcock Postmatch Kourtney Keegan Postmatch Photo Gallery

The Gators won a thrilling doubles point that came down to a tiebreak.

By: Kathy Cafazzo

ATHENS, Ga. – Top-seeded Florida earned a deceiving 4-0 win against 20th-ranked Texas A&M in the NCAA Championships round of 16 at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., on Friday evening.

What's Next?

Florida will play No. 9 seed Oklahoma State in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Sunday, May 21 at 4 p.m.
The Cowgirls defeated No. 8-seed Georgia Tech, 4-3, in their round of 16 match Friday.
The Gators played and defeated Oklahoma State this season in Gainesville (4-2) to improve to 9-0 all-time against the Cowgirls. Florida is 3-0 all-time versus OSU in NCAA match-ups.

The Gators won a thrilling doubles point that came down to a tiebreak in the third and final match on court. Florida's Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock came through with the 7-6 (1) victory and the Gators took the early team lead.

The Aggies weren't deterred when they returned to the court for singles action, jumping out quickly on several courts including a 5-1 lead at the No. 3 spot and a 4-1 advantage at No. 5. UF's Ingrid Neel and Brooke Austin rallied on both of their respective courts and won the first set, as the Gators felt the huge momentum shift.

Junior Anna Danilina jumped out to a 4-1 lead on court four against Saska Gavrilovska and became the first to complete her singles match, 6-3, 6-0, to give Florida a 2-0 lead. The win was Danilina's 11th consecutive, as well as her team-leading 32nd of the season.

Florida won the first set quickly on court one, where sixth-ranked Woolcock was facing No. 16 Rachel Pierson. The Gator senior won the first nine games before Pierson finally held serve to avoid the double-bagel, as Woolcock posted a 6-0, 6-4 decision and the Gators took a 3-0 advantage in the team scoring.

Senior Kourtney Keegan and Macarena Olivares were matching each other serve for serve in the first set, with Keegan getting the first break of the match in the eighth game before she held to take the first frame. She continued that run by taking a 2-0 lead in the second. Olivares held, however, that was the last game she would win, as Keegan polished off UF's NCAA round of 16 victory with a 6-3, 6-1 decision.

Doubling their Fun

The Gators won the doubles point for the 26th time this season.
The 11th-ranked pair of Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel provided the first decision of the dual match, winning 6-2 against seventh-ranked Rachel Pierson and Rutuja Bhosale in 30 minutes.
Texas A&M the halted the six-match win streak of UF's Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, 6-3, on court two.
That set the stage for the deciding match on court three, where the Gator tandem of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock were battling Stefania Kristov and Saska Gavrilovaska. TAMU jumped out to an early break for a 3-1 lead before the Gators got the break back in the sixth game and Woolcock held for 4-3. The rest of the match was on-serve – with the Gators having two match-points at 6-5 – and headed into a tiebreak, where after the first two serves were holds and the Gators took control of the remaining points to win it 7-6 (1).
The win by Kuhlman and Woolcock improved their dual match record to 22-3 overall and 21-3 at the No. 3 position. Their win total at the three spot tied the program record for wins in a season at that position.

Gators at a Glance

The Gators have won five of their last seven matches.
The Gators have won the doubles point in 26 of 29 matches.
UF improved to 25-1 when winning the doubles point this year. The only loss was in the 4-3 SEC Tournament Final loss at No. 2 Vanderbilt.
Two of the Gator's three losses have been against Vanderbilt, which was awarded the NCAA No. 4 seed.

Super Sweet

This was Florida's 34th appearance in the Sweet 16.
Florida made its 13th consecutive appearance in the round of 16 – the second-longest active streak in the country.
The Gators sport a 30-4 all-time record in NCAA Round of 16 matches.
UF's last loss in the round of 16 was last season, when the Gators fell 4-3 to eventual champion Stanford.

Gators vs. Aggies: The Series

The Gators improve to 6-2 all-time against the Aggies.
Friday's match was the first NCAA meeting between the two programs.
The series began in 2013, when Texas A&M joined the SEC.
Last Meeting: UF defeated TAMU, 4-0, in a rain-delayed match, 4-0, in College Station, Texas on March 6, 2017.
Last Loss: UF's last loss in the series was a 4-3 setback in the 2014 SEC Tournament. Since that loss, Florida has won the last four meetings.

Quotes from the Court

FLORIDA HEAD COACH ROLAND THORNQVIST

On today's match…
"It was tough, a lot tougher than the 4-0 score, that is for sure. First of all doubles, we did a really good job at three doubles, playing our best tennis at the tiebreaker. We had great courage. Of the seven points we won in the tiebreaker and poached four and that's all you can ask as a coach. We had courage and we went for it. I think that is how you win big meets. In singles we had to turn a couple of huge deficits in first sets around and I think that is the dagger that really hurt Texas A&M. You can see some of their energy sort of went away in the second sets. We were able to turn (courts) three and five around after huge deficits. Overall I am really proud, we fought hard with great energy and actually played pretty well too against a very gritty and much improved Texas A&M team."
WATCH COACH THORNQVIST'S COMPLETE PRESSER

FLORIDA SENIOR BELINDA WOOLCOCK

On the clinching doubles-point win – with the match at 4-all ...
"We did an amazing job of returning today, especially under the pressure. We had a few times where we had opportunities to come in and take the match, but didn't. We served really great at 4-all. We did an amazing job of keeping our cool today and problem-solved well. Josie (Kuhlman) and I really stuck well together today. We had great energy and didn't give up. In the end, it was about being aggressive that allowed us to win. That's what got us over the line today."
WATCH WOOLCOCK'S COMPLETE PRESSER

FLORIDA SENIOR KOURTNEY KEEGAN

On today's match...
"It is a great feeling advancing to the quarterfinals, being from Georgia I have a little bit of a home crowd cheering for me. It is a great opportunity and I am just playing to play my best, as it is the last tournament of my career."
WATCH KEEGAN'S COMPLETE PRESSER

TEXAS A&M HEAD COACH MARK WEAVER

On today's match...
"I was very pleased with how we approached the match. We went into this really thinking we could win this, and all credit to Florida. The doubles could have gone either way. All year we've had so many doubles points that have gone down to tiebreakers, and those are the kind that can go either way; they're 50/50, and it went their way tonight."

Peach State Native will Cap Career at "Home"

Senior Kourtney Keegan is from Roswell, Ga., located approximately 75 miles from Athens.

Florida at the NCAA Championships

The Gators sport an all-time NCAA record of 110-28, including a 19-0 record in the round of 64, an 18-1 mark in the round of 32 and a 30-4 record in the round of 16.
UF has been selected to host first and second round matches every year since the NCAA Women's Championships expanded its field to 64 teams in 1999.
The Gators have participated in 35 of the 36 NCAA Championships, missing only the 1986 event.
The Gators won six NCAA team titles: 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003, 2011 and 2012.
UF has advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals 24 times in the last 30 years.

Individual Gator News (this season)

Anna Danilina has won 11 straight singles matches – the longest active streak by a Gator
Danilina has won a team-leading 32 singles matches
The doubles team of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock sport a 21-3 dual match record at the No. 3 position (22-3 at all positions), which is now tied for the most in a season by a Gator pair at the three spot in program history. Three other tandems have won 21 times on court three.

Individual Gator News (career notes)

Kourtney Keegan has won 113 career doubles matches, a total that ranks No. 6 all-time in UF history.
Belinda Woolcock has won 106 career singles matches – one of 29 Gators who have eclipsed the century mark for singles victories and the only current Gator.
Keegan has won 96 career singles matches
Junior Josie Kuhlman has won 90 career singles matches

NCAA Women's Tennis Championships Round of 16
Complete Team Results
[1] Florida d. Texas A&M, 4-0
[9] Oklahoma State d. [8] Georgia Tech, 4-3
[12] Pepperdine d. [5] Georgia, 4-3
[4] Vanderbilt d. [13] California, 4-1
[3] Ohio State d. [14] South Carolina, 4-1
[6] Texas Tech d. [11] Auburn, 4-2
[7] Stanford d. [10] Michigan, 4-1
[2] North Carolina d. [15] Duke, 4-0

No. 1 Florida vs. No. 20 Texas A&M
Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga.
Friday, May 19, 2017

Final Score: Florida 4, Texas A&M 0

Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*)
1. #11 Anna Danilina/Ingrid Neel (FLORIDA) def. #7 Rachel Pierson/Rutuja Bhosale (TEXAS A&M), 6-2
2. Eva Paalma/ Domencia Gonzalez (TEXAS A&M) def. #20 Brooke Austin/Kourtney Keegan (FLORIDA), 6-3
3. #45 Josie Kuhlman/Belina Woolcock (FLORIDA) def. Stefania Kristov/Saska Gavrilovska (TEXAS A&M), 7-6 (1)*

Singles (Order of Finish: 4, 1, 6*)
1. #6 Belinda Woolcock (FLORIDA) def. #16 Rachel Pierson (TEXAS A&M), 6-0, 6-4
2. #53 Rutuja Bhosale (TEXAS A&M) vs. #23 Josie Kuhlman (FLORIDA), 7-6 (3), 2-1, DNF
3. #31 Ingrid Neel (FLORIDA) vs. Domencia Gonzalez (TEXAS A&M), 7-5, 1-6, DNF
4. #44 Anna Danilina (FLORIDA) def. Saska Gavrilovska (TEXAS A&M), 6-3, 6-0
5. Brooke Austin (FLORIDA) vs. Eva Paalma (TEXAS A&M), 7-5, 2-4, DNF
6. #59 Kourtney Keegan (FLORIDA) def. Macarena Olivares (TEXAS A&M), 6-3, 6-1*
Updated Records: Florida 26-3; Texas A&M 18-13
NCAA Seed: Florida 1; Texas A&M 17-31

Gator Pronunciations in this Release