The #1 Florida Gators kept up their winning ways, after winning their seventh ITA National Team Indoors Championship, with a 4-2 win over #6 Oklahoma State. A key to the Cowgirls strategy is claiming the doubles point which they won with an upset on court No. 3. In singles on court No. 1, Viktoriya Lushkova retired halfway through her second set and Ingrid Neel continued her strong play from Indoors with a win on court No. 2 to give UF a 3-0 lead. Aliona Bolsova earned the biggest upset of the night giving OSU their first singles point on court No. 3. Brooke Austin would provide the clincher for the Gators on court No. 5 with a 3-set win.
No. 1: No. 5 Babic/Tur Mari (OSU) def. No. 18 Austin/Keegan (UF) 6-4
No. 2: No. 22 Danilina/Neel (UF) vs. Bolsova/Blanco (OSU) 6-6, susp.
No. 3: Lushkova/Adamovic (OSU) def. No. 17 Kuhlman/Woolcock (UF) 7-6(2)
No. 1: No. 40 Belinda Woolcock (UF) def. No. 10 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) 6-3, 3-0, inj.
No. 2: No. 45 Ingrid Neel (UF) def. No. 56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) 6-3, 6-2
No. 3: Aliona Bolsova (OSU) def. No. 23 Anna Danilina (UF) 7-6(5), 6-4
No. 4: No. 19 Josie Kuhlman (UF) def. No. 33 Vladica Babic (OSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
No. 5: Brooke Austin (UF) def. No. 86 Lena Ruppert (OSU) 7-5, 1-6, 6-4
No. 6: No. 30 Kourtney Keegan (UF) vs. No. 77 Sofia Blanco (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 3-2, susp.
The Stanford-Florida rivalry is one of if not the best in college tennis. The Cardinal visited the Gators who were hoping to keep their 162 home winning streak alive. Florida claimed the doubles point with decisive wins on courts Nos. 3 and 1, respectively. There were only two straight-set matches, with Neel claiming another win on No. 2 and Emma Higuchi claiming an upset rout over Spencer Liang on No. 6. Brooke Austin saved a match point against Caroline Lampl to move UF within 1 and Belinda Woolcock snagged that 4th point with a third set bagel over Taylor Davidson. You can listen to Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist talk about the team’s great weekend at this link.
No. 1: No. 18 Austin/Keegan (FLA) d. Arbuthnott/Davidson (STAN) 6-3
No. 2: No. 36 Doyle/Lord (STAN) vs. No. 22 Danilina/Neel (FLA) 4-4, susp.
No. 3: No. 17 Kuhlman/Woolcock (FLA) d. Higuchi/Lampl (STAN) 6-1
No. 1: No. 40 Belinda Woolcock (FLA) d. Taylor Davidson (STAN) 4-6, 6-2, 6-0
No. 2: No. 45 Ingrid Neel (FLA) d. No. 38 Caroline Doyle (STAN) 6-1, 6-3
No. 3: No. 23 Anna Danilina (FLA) led No. 13 Melissa Lord (STAN) 7-5, 3-6, 4-1, susp.
No. 4: Brooke Austin (FLA) d. No. 75 Caroline Lampl (STAN) 2-6, 6-1, 7-5
No. 5: No. 19 Josie Kuhlman (FLA) led No. 59 Emily Arbuthnott (STAN) 7-6, 5-4, susp.
No. 6: Emma Higuchi (STAN) d. No. 41 Spencer Liang (FLA) 6-2, 6-1
The third match of the weekend was between Stanford and Oklahoma State, held at the USTA National Campus and broadcasted live on ESPN3 as part of USTA’s College MatchDay Series. It was a rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship match, where Davidson knocked out Vladica Babic to give Stanford the win, 4-3. The doubles point was highly contested with two tiebreakers featured, with OSU claiming the win on court No. 1 to go up 1-0. The Cowgirls took 4 of the 6 first sets, but it wasn’t enough to overtake the Cardinal. Emaily Arbuthnott knocked out a win on court No. 5 to tie things up and Stanford never looked back. On court No. 4, Lampl took out Bolsova in the only other two-set match and Melissa Lord continued her hot 2017 season on court No. 3. Davidson would clinch again, albeit with less pressure, with a strong 3-set upset over Lushkova. A replay of the match is available for viewing on ESPN3 with Kevin Corke and Prim Siripipat providing commentary.
No. 1: No. 5 Babic/Tur Mari (OSU) def. Davidson/Arbuthnott (STAN) 7-6(5)
No. 2: No. 36 Doyle/Lord (STAN) def. Blanco/Bolsova (STAN) 6-4
No. 3: Adamovic/Lushkova (OSU) def. Higuchi/Lampl (STAN) 7-6(4)
No. 1: Taylor Davidson (STAN) def. No. 10 Viktoriya Lushkova (OSU) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2: No. 38 Caroline Doyle (STAN) vs. No. 56 Katarina Adamovic (OSU) 5-7, 7-6(6), 3-2, susp.
No. 3: No. 13 Melissa Lord (STAN) def. No. 33 Vladica Babic (OSU) 2-6, 6-3, 6-0
No. 4: No. 75 Caroline Lampl (STAN) def. Aliona Bolsova, 6-4, 7-6(3)
No. 5: No. 59 Emily Arbuthnott (STAN) def. No. 42 Carla Tur Mari, 6-3, 6-0
No. 6: Emma Higuchi (STAN) vs. No. 86 Lena Ruppert (OSU) 4-6, 7-6(5), 4-1, susp.
Other quality matchups from over the weekend include:
- No. 3 Ohio State def. No. 10 Michigan 5-1
- Baylor def. No. 23 Northwestern 5-2
- No. 20 UCLA def. No. 22 Southern California 4-3
This past week was a productive one for former collegiate stars playing on the professional circuit. Danielle Lao, a 2013 graduate of the University of Southern California, produced the best result this past week with a runner-up finish at the $25,000 ITF event in Surprise, Arizona. Ayaka Okuno, who played for UGA in the 2013 dual season, was also a finalist at a $15,000 ITF tournament in Nanjing, China. In doubles, the week’s big winner was Abigail Spears, who spent the 1999-2000 season at UCLA, winning the WTA Premier event in Doha, Qatar with Katarine Srebotnik.
$710,900 WTA Qatar Total Open – Doha, Qatar
Doubles: Abigail Spears (UCLA ‘00*, Champion), Raquel Atawo (Cal ’04, R1)
$25,000 ITF Perth, Australia
R2: Kristie Ahn (Stanford ’14)
Q: Abigail Tere-Apisah (Georgia State ’14), Catherine Harrison (UCLA ’16), Beatrice Gumulya (Clemson ’15), Stefanie Tan (TCU ’15), Alexandra Walters (Charleston Southern ’14), Jessy Rompies (Clemson ’15)
Doubles: Ahn/Harrison (SF), Gumulya/Rompies (QF), Tere-Apisah (QF), Walters (R1)
$25,000 ITF Altenkirchen, Germany
2R: Romy Koelzer (Clemson ’15)
Doubles: Koelzer (QF)
$25,000 ITF Surprise, Arizona
Finals: Danielle Lao (Southern Cal ’13)
2R: Maria Sanchez (Southern Cal ’11)
1R: Jacqueline Cako (Arizona State ’13), Sanaz Marand (UNC ’10), Sabrina Santamaria (Southern Cal ’15), Danielle Collins (UVA ’16), Megan McCray (Oklahoma State ’14*)
Q: Lorraine Guillermo (Pepperdine ’15), Yukako Noi (Florida State ’16), Amy Zhu (Michigan ’14*), Jessica Wacnik (Boston College ’15), Chanelle Van Nguyen (UCLA ’15), Kaitlyn Christian (Southern Cal ’14), Kassidy Jump (Arizona State ’17), Desirae Krawczyk (Arizona State ’16), Brianna Morgan (Florida ’16), Kelley Anderson (Arizona State ’18), Stephanie Nauta (UVA ’16), Keri Wong (Clemson ’12), Catherine Leduc (St. Mary’s CA ’15), Madeline Kobelt (Syracuse ’14), Kristina Smith (UC Irvine ’13)
Doubles: Christian/Lao (SF), Santamaria/Wong (QF), Kobelt (QF), Krawczyk/Marand (R1), Melissa Kopinski (Illinois ’15)/Wacnik (R1), Cako (R1)
$15,000 ITF Nanjing, China
Finals: Ayaka Okuno (UGA ‘13*)
Doubles: Okuno (R1)
$15,000 ITF Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
SF: Shelby Talcott (Iowa ’15)
2R: Julyette Steur (Colorado ’15)
1R: Akilah James (Arizona ’14)
Q: Kanika Vaidya (Columbia ’16)
Doubles: Talcott (R1), Vaidya (R1), Aleah Marrow (Syracuse ’14, R1), Steur (R1)
$15,000 ITF Wirral, Great Britain
QF: Emina Bektas (Michigan ’15)
2R: Elixane Lechemia (South Carolina ’15)
1R: Alicia Barnett (Northwestern ’16), Ronit Yurovsky (Michigan ’16)
Q: Sarah Lee (Michigan ’15)
Doubles: Bektas/Yurovsky (Finals), Barnett (R1)
$15,000 ITF Manacor, Mallorca, Spain
QF: Daiana Negreanu (Texas Arlington ’11)
2R: Lauren Embree (Florida ’13)
1R: Andrea Ka (San Francisco ’16), Yuki Chiang (Pepperdine ’14*), Alexa Guarachi (Alabama ’13)
Q: Quinn Gleason (Notre Dame ’16), Tiffany William (Middle Tennessee ’15), Andrea Villarreal (Southeastern Louisiana ’16), Natalia Maynetto (Alabama ’16)
Doubles: Chiang (SF), Gleason (R1), Maynetto (R1)
$15,000 ITF Hammamet, Tunisia
QF: Jessica Ho (Duke ‘16*)
2R: Connie Hsu (Penn ‘12*), Eleni Kordolaimi (Houston ’15)
Doubles: Kordolaimi (Finals), Hsu (SF), Ho (QF)
* denotes player turned professional before completing eligibility
Joey’s Bio – I got hooked on college tennis as a high school junior and would eventually attend The Ohio State University where I worked at the Varsity Tennis Center for 3 years and was a Student SID for the men’s tennis team my senior year in 2014. Upon graduation, I interned at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) before serving time as their Digital Coordinator. Aside from CTT, I contribute on the Tennis Recruiting Network and you can follow me on Twitter at @JoeyDillon
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