Women's Tennis Falls to No. 3 Florida

Sunday, April 6

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

12:00 p.m

Alabama

Florida

Tiffany Welcher took 27th-ranked Julia Cohen to three sets in a tough loss.

Women's Tennis Falls to No. 3 Florida

4/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis

April 6, 2008

Final Stats | Photo Gallery

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The 75th-ranked Alabama women's tennis team suffered its second setback of the weekend on Sunday, losing to No. 3 Florida, 7-0. With the loss the Tide falls to 6-13 overall and 2-8 in the SEC, while the regular season champion Gators improve to 16-1 overall and 10-0 in the SEC.

"I am very proud of this team," said Alabama head coach Jenny Mainz. "We competed our hardest and left it all out on the court. I feel we took a step forward today and took a step closer to where we want to be. There are two things that hurt us today, we got off to a slow start from the beginning and had to play catch up, and we didn't take command of the pivotal points."

The Tide dropped matches at numbers one and three doubles to start singles with a one-point deficit. Alabama's Andrea Brenes and Paulina Bigos fell to Whitney Benik and Csilla Borsanyi, 8-0, at No. 1 doubles while the Tide's Bianca Svensson and Shelley Godwin were topped by the nation's 39th-ranked tandem of Julia Cohen and Anastasia Revzina, 8-3.

At No. 2 doubles, the freshman combination of Meritt Emery and Tiffany Welcher took Florida's Megan Alexander and Lolita Frangulyan to a tie-breaker but eventually lost the set 8-7(7-6).

In singles, the Gators took control of the match at the bottom of the lineup. Florida's Benik defeated Emery 6-4, 6-3, to clinch the match for the Gators.

At No. 6 singles, Alabama's Brenes fell to Frangulyan to give Florida a 2-0 lead, while the Tide's Godwin lost to Revzina 6-4, 6-1, at No. 5 to put the Gators ahead, 3-0.

With the match already clinched for Florida, the top of the Tide lineup put in a good showing against three ranked opponents, sending all three matches to third sets. Bigos tied her match with 32nd-ranked Borsanyi with a 6-3 victory in the second set before falling 6-2 in the third set.

At No. 1 singles, Welcher outlasted 27th-ranked Cohen in the first set, 7-6(7-2), before Cohen rallied to take the final two sets and the match.

Alice Tunaru was the last player left on court for the Tide, battling to get Alabama on the board, and she edged Alexander, 6-1, in the first set, fell 6-4 in the second set and took the third set to a tiebreaker before falling 9-7.

Alabama heads on the road again next weekend as the Tide takes on in-state rival Auburn Saturday, April 12, at 5 p.m.

#75 Alabama 0, #3 Florida 7
UA Varsity Courts
Tuscaloosa, Ala.<.>

Singles1. #27 Julia Cohen (UF) d. Tiffany Welcher (UA) 6-7(2), 6-4, 10-5
2. #32 Csilla Borsanyi (UF) d. Paulina Bigos (UA) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
3. #102 Megan Alexander (UF) d. Alice Tunaru (UA) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(7)
4. #124 Whitney Benik (UF) d. Meritt Emery (UA) 6-4, 6-3
5. #95 Anastasia Revzina (UF) d. Shelley Godwin (UA) 6-4, 6-1
6. Lolita Frangulyan (UF) d. Andrea Brenes (UA) 6-0, 6-0
Order of finish: 6,5,4*,2,1,3
Doubles 1. Benik/Borsanyi (UF) d. Brenes/Bigos (UA) 8-0
2. Alexander/Frangulyan (UF) d. Emery/Welcher (UA) 8-7(8-6)
3. #39 Cohen/Revzina (UF) d. Svensson/Godwin (UA) 8-3
Order of finish:1,3,2