Gators to Play for National Championship

Monday, May 22

Athens, GA

7 PM

Florida Gators

Vanderbilt (NCAA Semifinals)

Brooke Austin prepares to be rushed by her teammates after clinching the win.

Gators to Play for National Championship

Monday, May 22, 2017 | Women's Tennis

Photo Gallery by Kathy Cafazzo & Bill Kallenberg

Florida topped Vanderbilt, 4-2, in Monday's NCAA semifinal match.

By: Kathy Cafazzo

ATHENS, Ga. – Florida avenged a pair of regular-season losses against Vanderbilt with Monday evening's 4-2 victory in the NCAA Championships semifinals played at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts.

The Gators will play Stanford for the national championship on Tuesday at 5 p.m. The Cardinal defeated Ohio State, 4-3, in their semifinal match.

ESPNU will televise the match live, with Sam Gore, Patrick McEnroe and Renee Stubbs calling the action.

Monday's NCAA Semifinal victory …

Sends the Gators to the NCAA Finals for the 14th time in program history and the first time since 2012 (played and won in Athens)
Was Roland Thornqvist's 400th coaching victory at Florida
Marked Roland Thornqvist's 475th career coaching victory

Florida's Road to the NCAA Final

Florida's path to the semifinal round included wins against Massachusetts (4-0), Miami (4-1), Texas A&M (4-0), Oklahoma State (4-1) and Vanderbilt (4-2).

The Pre-Match Setup

Florida had lost just three times in 30 matches entering Monday's NCAA Championships Semifinals. Two of those setbacks came against the team standing in the Gators way of playing for the national championship.
Vanderbilt first defeated Florida, 4-2, in the regular-season finale for both teams. That match cost the Gators the Southeastern Conference regular-season title.
Seven days later, the teams returned to the courts in Nashville in the SEC Tournament final and again the Commodores got the best of the Gators, 4-3.
The stakes were even higher on Monday, when the teams played for a third time with a trip to the NCAA Final on the line.

How It Started

Florida began the dual match by winning the doubles for the 26th time this season. The Gators, however, also won the doubles point against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament final meeting and the Commodores managed to win four singles matches to capture the team victory.
The first win of the entire dual match was an impressive 6-1 post by the Gator doubles team of Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel, which upset top-ranked Astra Sharma and Emily Smith.
Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan provided the doubles-point clincher with their 6-4 win against Sydney Campbell and Emma Kurtz.

First Momentum Swing in Singles Belonged to Vanderbilt

With only four courts inside the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts, positions one through four opened singles action at 7:51 p.m. and the Commodores came out fast, winning the first set in three of those matches.
Vanderbilt claimed straight-set victories on courts two and three and had taken a 2-1 lead by 9:25 p.m.
Meanwhile, Anna Danilina had won her first set, but dropped the second, losing her serve in the final game, and was heading to a third at 9:30 p.m.
Belinda Woolcock lost her first set 7-6 (3) in one hour and 12 minutes to fourth-ranked Astra Sharma, a player who had dealt Woolcock a pair of straight-set losses during the regular season.
Things didn't look good for the Gators.

Momentum Shift – Gators

With one of the courts now open, junior Brooke Austin began her warmup and started play at 9:24 p.m.
Woolcock continued to fight and roared out to a 4-0 lead in the second set. She dropped her serve for 4-1 and Sharma held. Woolcock regained her focus and held for 5-2. With the score at no-ad, 40-40, Woolcock won the big point, got the break and forced a deciding third set.
At that time, Kourtney Keegan was on court and ripped through her first set against Fernanda Contreras, 6-0, shortly after Austin had taken her first set 6-2 against Georgina Sellyn by 9:51 p.m.
Danilina began her third set with a 2-0 lead, before Emma Kurtz won the next two and went to the baseline to serve. Danilina earned another break and held for a 4-2 lead, as she won the final four games of the set to take the 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 victory and evened the team score at 2-all at 10:12 p.m.

The Final Push

Woolcock continued to push at the one position finally ended the match winning 12 of the final 14 games to claim the 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-0 victory and give Florida a 3-2 lead.
Austin had been inching closer to her finale, as she earned a break in the fifth game and held for 4-2. Sellyn also held, before Austin lost just one point on her serve and then won the no-ad, duce point on her first match-point opportunity to capture the 6-2, 6-3 victory and secure Florida's 14th overall trip to the NCAA Final and its first since the 2012 season – which also happened to be played in Athens.

Danilina Loves NCAA Dancing

Anna Danilina's 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 win was her fifth singles victory during the 2017 NCAA Championships.
She is the only Gator who has won all five singles matches.

Gators vs. Vanderbilt

UF leads the all-time series against the Commodores, 49-7, including a 5-1 record in NCAA meetings.
Streak: Despite Florida's large lead in the series history, Vanderbilt had won five of the last six meetings entering the 2017 NCAA Semifinal match.
Last Meeting: The most recent meeting was a 4-3 Vanderbilt decision in the SEC Tournament final held indoors in Nashville.
Other Regular-Season Match: The two programs squared off in the regular-season finale with the SEC regular-season title on the line. Vandy captured the 4-2 decision and that win coupled with Georgia's home loss to Texas A&M secured the Commodores' first-ever league title.
NCAA Meetings: VU won the last postseason matchup - a 4-3 decision in the 2015 quarterfinal round - with the Commodores advancing to their first NCAA title in program history.

Gators at a Glance

The Gators have won seven of their last nine matches.
The Gators have won the doubles point in 26 of 31 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.
The Gators are 2-2 when losing the doubles point, with wins coming against Michigan on Feb. 10 at the National Team Indoors and versus Oklahoma State on February 17 in Gainesville.
Two of Florida's three losses have been against Vanderbilt.

Florida at the NCAA Championships

The Gators sport an all-time NCAA record of 112-28, including a 19-0 record in the round of 64, an 18-1 mark in the round of 32, a 30-4 record in the round of 16, a 25-5 leger in the quarterfinals and a 14-11 record in the semifinals.
UF has advanced to at least the NCAA semifinals 25 times in the last 31 years (including 2017).

Individual Gator News (this season)

Anna Danilina has won 13 straight singles matches – the longest active streak by a Gator
Danilina has won a team-leading 34 singles matches, which includes a 5-0 record in the 2017 NCAAs.

Individual Gator News (career notes)

Kourtney Keegan has won 115 career doubles matches, a total that is fifth all-time in UF history.
Belinda Woolcock has won 107 career singles matches – one of 29 Gators who have eclipsed the century mark for singles victories and the only current Gator.

Quickie Quotes from the Court
FLORIDA HEAD COACH ROLAND THORNQVIST

On today's match...
"It was such a quick turn around from yesterday, there wasn't a lot we could do as far as preparation was concerned, but we played a really good match at the SEC tournament. I think we had our chances to win but let them slip away and I think our players will tell you the same thing. So we were really motivated today to go all the way. Doubles was exceptional and then the momentum shifted at the beginning of singles, but we have been a no-panic team the entire year. It was very tough at the end with a few set matches here and we all struck them down here physically so that helped turn the momentum."
WATCH all of Coach Thornqvist's postmatch presser

FLORIDA JUNIOR BROOKE AUSTIN

On clinching today's match...
"Obviously the doubles point was amazing. Our fans were incredible. It felt like it was electric in here. Kourt (Keegan) and I got the job done at the end and I think we just stuck together and knew that we could do it. I literally looked at her at 30-30 in the game and was like 'we can do this' and she goes 'I know' and that's when I knew that we were going to do it. We fought as hard as we could. Everyone was yelling and cheering and just sticking together which really describes our whole team experience here. Today was just a good example of it."
WATCH all of Brooke Austin's postmatch presser

FLORIDA SENIOR BELINDA WOOLCOCK

On advancing to the national championship match...
"Firstly, I want to say I'm so proud of my team. Today was a rollercoaster. We didn't know what time we were going to play and just were really flexible and didn't worry about what was happening with the weather. Today, we just came out with fire. We fought so hard and I think we played some of the best tennis we've ever played."
WATCH all of Belinda Woolcock's postmatch presser

VANDERBILT HEAD COACH GEOFF MACDONALD

On today's match...
"Well this is the first match we've lost since early March. We had a tough road match against Kentucky, they're a really good indoor team. Another interesting thing, that was our sixth lost and five of those six have been indoors. We only lost one match all year outside. They are brilliant young people. They compete with so much heart. They're fair. They represent our university with class. I'm just really proud of them."

NCAA Women's Tennis Championships – Semifinals
Team Results
[1] Florida d. [4] Vanderbilt, 4-2
[7] Stanford d. [3] Ohio State, 4-3

Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Courts * Athens, Ga.
Monday, May 22, 2017
Final Score: Florida def. Vanderbilt, 4-2

Doubles (Order of Finish: 1,2*)
1. #11 Anna Danilina/Ingrid Neel (Florida) def. #1 Astra Sharma/Emily Smith (Vanderbilt), 6-1
2 .#20 Brooke Austin/Kourtney Keegan (Florida) def. Sydney Campbell/Emma Kurtz (Vanderbilt), 6-4*
3. #45 Josie Kuhlman/Belinda Woolcock (Florida) vs. Christina Rosca/Fernanda Contreras (Vanderbilt), 5-5, DNF
Singles (Order of Finish: 2,3,4,1,5*)
1. #6 Belinda Woolcock (Florida) def. #4 Astra Sharma (Vanderbilt), 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-0
2. #15 Sydney Campbell (Vanderbilt) def. #23 Josie Kuhlman (Florida), 6-4, 6-1
3. #102 Christina Rosca (Vanderbilt) def. #31 Ingrid Neel (Florida), 7-5, 6-4
4. #44 Anna Danilina (Florida) def. Emma Kurtz (Vanderbilt), 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
5. Brooke Austin (Florida) def. Georgina Sellyn (Vanderbilt), 6-2, 6-3*
6. #59 Kourtney Keegan (Florida) vs. Fernanda Contreras (Vanderbilt), 6-0, 1-3, DNF
Records: Florida 28-3; Vanderbilt 24-6

Postmatch Interviews:

Other Links of Note: