#1 Duke Falls, 4-3, at #5 Florida

Wednesday, March 26

Gainesville, Fla.

TBA

Duke University

Florida

#1 Duke Falls, 4-3, at #5 Florida

3/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

By: Duke Sports Information

March 26, 2003

Gainesville, FL -- Just a handful of crucial points have been the difference in the two matches played between the Florida and Duke women's tennis teams this season. The Blue Devils won the big points back on February 9th in the finals of the National Team Indoor Championships, taking the title with a 4-3 victory. On Wednesday, it was the Gators who captured the big points and upset top-ranked Duke, 4-3, in front of a rowdy crowd at the Ring Tennis Complex.

The win, which was Florida's 300th home victory in program history, improved the Gator's overall record to 17-2, while Duke fell to 16-2. Both of the Blue Devil's losses this season have come the same week they were ranked as the No. 1 team in the country.

Florida fell behind early in the match after Duke captured the doubles point with wins at the top two positions. The Gators were forced to win four singles matches against a powerful Blue Devil lineup in order to claim the dual match victory.

Gator sophomore Alexis Gordon was involved with the deciding match in both meetings against Duke, and prevailed Wednesday evening with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Katie Granson at the No. 5 singles position. The match provided Gordon the opportunity to show how much she has improved since dropping her singles match in the National Team Indoor Championships, where she led one set and was up one break before Amanda Johnson staged a three-set comeback to clinch the match and lift the Blue Devils to the title.

Gordon broke Granson in the final game of the second set to force a deciding third, where she jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but it wasn't easy. After holding her serve, Gordon capitalized on her first break point of the third set to take a 2-0 lead, but struggled to hold in the next game. Granson held four break points, but couldn't put the necessary point away, leaving Gordon the chance to capitalize on her third game point. She carried that momentum into the fourth game, where Gordon earned her second break to take a 4-0 advantage. However, Granson regrouped and broke back to get on the board, before taking a 40-15 lead on her serve in the sixth game. But Gordon won four straight points, capping the break with a forehand winner down the line to take a 5-1 lead. Granson refused to go quietly, and broke Gordon at love in the next game before holding serve to trim Gordon's lead to 5-3.However, Gordon rallied in the ninth game, winning the final three points, ending with Granson's forehand that sailed long, to emerge with the victory and give the Gators the upset win.

Gordon's match wasn't the only one providing excitement. Junior Lindsay Dawaf rallied for a hard fought 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory over Saras Arasu at the No. 3 position to give the Gators a 3-2 lead. The opening set featured seven breaks, with Arasu taking the final one in the 10th game. Arasu and Dawaf held to begin the second set, before each broke the other. But Dawaf dug deep and ripped off the next eight games to force a third set, where she took a 4-0 lead. Arasu finally held in the fifth game and Dawaf followed with a service hold of her own, capped by a beautifully placed cross-court drop shot to take a 5-1 lead. She then took advantage of her first match point, which was easily the longest rally of the entire dual match, and closed out the victory.

After winning the doubles point, Duke captured the first singles victory to take a 2-0 lead. Amanda Johnson dictated play at the No. 2 position, where she handed UF's Zerene Reyes a 6-2, 6-2 defeat. The loss snapped Reyes' winning streak at 16 matches.

Six minutes after Reyes' decision, Julie Rotondi gave Florida its first point of the match with an emotional 6-4, 6-1 victory over Julia Smith at the No. 4 position. The match opened with a pair of service breaks before the next five games were held. Rotondi the earned a break in the eighth game, but couldn't serve out the set, as Smith broke back. But Rotondi, with a large contingent of UF students cheering her on, broke right back to take the first set, 6-4. Rotondi then jumped out to a 2-0 lead, before Smith got on the board in the second set with a break of her own. However, Rotondi ripped off the final four games to end the match in straight sets and take the victory.

Less than one minute after Rotondi' shook hands with Smith, Gator freshman Jennifer Magley was putting the finishing touches on her No. 6 match against Julie DeRoo, earning a 6-2, 6-1 victory. DeRoo broke Magley in the first game of the second set, but the powerful Gator rookie continue her pressure at the net and even the dual match at 2-all.

Julia Scaringe, UF's lone senior, battled at the No. 1 singles position, where she faced Kelly McCain, the No. 2-ranked singles player in the country. Shortly after the dual match had been decided, Scaringe finally fell to McCain 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. McCain was the highest-ranked player Scaringe has ever faced during her career and matched her swing for swing. Scaringe took a 3-1 lead in the opening set after breaking McCain at love in the third game. McCain broke back in the sixth game, but couldn't hold, as Scaringe maintained a 4-3 lead. Again, McCain earned a break in the eighth game to get the match back on serve. Both competitors held serve, before Scaringe turned away two game points and finally capitalized on her fourth break point to take a 6-5 lead. She then served out to take the first set. Scaringe followed that with a break and a hold to take a 2-0 lead in the second. But McCain settled and earned breaks in the fourth and sixth games en route to forcing a deciding set. Both held through the first four games until McCain struck with a break after turning away three game points to take a 3-2 lead. But Scaringe fought back to earn a break of her own, but could hold in the seventh game, as McCain took a 4-3 lead. Scaringe appeared to be getting the match back on serve in the eighth game, where she took a 0-40 lead, but McCain rallied to win the next five points to hold and take a 5-3 lead. It was during Scaringe's serve in the ninth game when Gordon polished off the dual match victory for the Gators. Scaringe won that game, but couldn't break McCain, who served out for the two-hour and 27-minute victory.

Duke will next host Florida State on Sunday at 12:00 PM in the Ambler Tennis Stadium.


Women's College Tennis
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex, Gainesville, FL
Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Final Score: Florida 4, Duke 3

Doubles
1. Julie DeRoo/Amanda Johnson (4), Duke, d. Jennifer Magley/Zerene
Reyes (37), UF, 8-4*
2. Hillary Adams/Kelly McCain (10), Duke d. Lindsay Dawaf/Julia
Scaringe, UF, 8-4
3. Alexis Gordon/Julie Rotondi, UF, d. Katie Granson/Julia Smith, Duke,
8-6

Singles
1. Kelly McCain (2), Duke, d. Julia Scaringe (41), UF, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. Amanda Johnson (19), Duke, d. Zerene Reyes (29), UF, 6-2, 6-2
3. Lindsay Dawaf (22), UF, d. Saras Arasu (39), Duke, 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
4. Julie Rotondi (30), UF, d. Julia Smith (60), Duke, 6-4, 6-1
5. Alexis Gordon (14), UF, d. Katie Granson (97), Duke, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3*
6. Jennifer Magley (72), UF d. Julie DeRoo (81), Duke, 6-2, 6-1

*clinching match
Order of Finish:  Doubles - 3, 2, 1;   Singles - 2, 4, 6, 3, 5, 1
Records: Florida: 17-2     Duke: 16-2

END OF REPORT