FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Heather Steinbauer and Courtney Ulery picked up straight set singles wins Friday, but it wasn’t enough to top No. 15 Florida as the Gators defeated the Commodores, 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the SEC Women’s Tennis Tournament. The fourth-seeded Gators advanced to tomorrow’s semifinal round where it will play top-seeded and third-ranked Georgia while the Commodores will start preparing for the NCAA tournament.
Vanderbilt (11-8) found themselves in a small hole early as Florida (14-8) took a 1-0 lead after taking two of the three doubles matches from the ‘Dores.
“I thought we had a lot of chances to get back into the match but we struggled closing games out,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “We just could not get over the hump. Florida played very well today and I want to give their team a lot of credit for competing at such a high level. When competing against the top teams in the SEC you have to limit your errors and be really focused during the entire match.”
VU opened doubles play strong as the number three duo of Courtney and Keilly Ulery cruised to an 8-1 win over Florida’s pair of Brooke Allen and Lauren Wolken. The win came one day after clinching the doubles point against Mississippi State. The Ulery sisters improved to 12-4 in dual play.
Florida took control of the other two doubles matches, claiming wins at the first and second position.
The Commodores quickly tied the overall match score at 1-1 when Courtney Ulery posted her second straight set win in as many days with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Brooke Allen for her 12th win of the dual season.
The Gators than went up 3-1 in the match after they got singles wins from Marrit Boonstra and Joanna Mather at the first and third singles position. Vanderbilt’s Steinbauer kept the ‘Dores within striking distance as she topped Barbara Pinterova in consecutive sets, winning 6-4, 6-1. Steinbauer improved to 20-7 overall and a team-best 12-3 in dual play.
With two matches remaining the ‘Dores still had a chance to knock off the Gators and take the last two singles matches. After dropping the first set 6-4, VU’s Jackie Wu took a 3-0 in the second set against No. 47 Anastasia Revzina. Meanwhile two courts over Vanderbilt’s Chelsea Preeg was in a tight battle of her own against Jessica Alexander. Preeg dropped the first set in a tight 7-6 score (losing the tiebreaker 7-2) before falling 6-4 to Alexander in the second set, clinching the match for the Gators and eliminating the ‘Dores from the SEC tournament.
Vanderbilt will now wait for the NCAA selection show to determine where they will head for regionals in the 2009 NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament.
The Commodores have made 14 straight NCAA appearances under current head coach Geoff Macdonald and have hosted regionals 10 straight years.
The 2009 NCAA Division I men’s and women’s tennis selection announcements will air at approximately 5:20 p.m. ET, Tuesday, April 28, on ESPNews.
No. 15 Florida 4, No. 19 Vanderbilt 2
Singles Results
1. No. 7 Marrit Boonstra (UF) def. No. 61 Catherine Newman (VU) 6-1, 6-3
2. No. 47 Anastasia Revzina vs. No. 57 Jackie Wu (VU) 4-6, 3-4 unfinished
3. Joanna Mather (UF) def. Keilly Ulery (VU) 6-3, 6-3
4. Jessica Alexander (UF) def. Chelsea Preeg (VU) 7-6 (7-2), 6-4
5. Heather Steinbauer (VU) def. Barbara Pinterova (UF) 6-4, 6-1
6. Courtney Ulery (VU) def. Allen (UF) 6-2, 6-1
order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 5, 4*
Doubles Results
1. No. 43 Boonstra / Mather (UF) def. No. 38 Steinbauer / Wu (VU) 8-4
2. No. 29 Alexander / Revzina (UF) def. Newman / Preeg (VU) 8-5
3. Ulery, C. / Ulery, K. (VU) def. Allen / Wolken (UF) 8-1
order of finish: 3, 2, 1
