North Carolina
Florida
No. 10 North Carolina Stuns No. 2 Florida, 4-3
February 26, 2006 | Women's Tennis
Feb. 26, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina's women's tennis team posted its highest ranked win in school history with a 4-3 victory over #2 Florida on Sunday afternoon. The win also was the Tar Heels' first ever over the Gators in six meetings dating back to 1977. No. 10 Carolina moves to 12-2, 1-0 with its second win over a top 10 team in two days, while Florida falls to 6-1.
This victory is Tar Heel head coach Brian Kalbas' 20th win over teams ranked in the top 10 in his coaching career since 1995. "It is a statement for our program," said head coach Brian Kalbas. "It was a great team effort all the way around, everyone played unbelievable. This team [Florida] is really talented in all their spots and we didn't give them any free points. We made them work for everything. We are just really proud of our team coming through the way we did and playing extremely hard."
Carolina jumped off to a 1-0 lead over Florida by winning two out of three doubles matches to clinch the point. Ranked tenth in the nation, the junior doubles tandem of Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long downed the No. 58 duo of Whitney Benik and Alexis Gordon. This is the 21st win for the Tar Heel tandem. Clinching the doubles point at the three seed was the freshmen duo of Meg Fanjoy and Austin Smith. The No. 48th-ranked Tar Heel tandem defeated Keri Robison and Nina Suvak, 8-5, giving North Carolina a 1-0 lead. The Tar Heel tandem's record now stands at 19-7 for the season.
In singles action, the Tar Heels saw wins from the two, three and six seeds. Freshman Meg Fanjoy won her 12th victory of the season after cruising past Lolita Frangulyan, 6-0, 6-1, giving the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead over the Gators. Following right behind Fanjoy was junior Sara Anundsen at the three seed. No. 62 Anundsen pushed the score to 3-0 after downing No. 41 Boglarka Berecz, 6-2, 6-2. Anundsen gained her 17th win with the defeat.
Clinching the match for the Tar Heels was junior Caitlin Collins at the two seed. Playing a hard-fought match over No. 5 Diana Srebrovic, No. 56 Collins upset Srebrovic, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7-5). Collins moved the score to 4-1. Collins came from a 5-3 deficit in the tiebreaker to clinch the match. Srebrovic had been ranked No. 1 all pre-season in the ITA polls. The match marks Collins' 16th win in the 2006 season and Srebrovic's second loss of the spring season.
"To beat an unbelievable Florida team the way we did it with Caitlin [Collins] winning the final match was great," said Kalbas. "We are so proud of her coming through for the team defeating the number five player in the country."
No. 21 Jenna Long put up a valiant effort over Florida's Alexis Gordon, but dropped her seventh loss of the season, 3-6, 3-6. The Gators closed out the match win two wins from the four and five seeds. Freshman Laura Reichert competed hard against Nina Suvak, bringing the match into a third set tie-breaker. Reichert came back in the second set after dropping the first, but fell in the third. Austin Smith also took the match into the third set over Florida's Whitney Benik after falling in the first set, but fell 5-7, 6-4, 0-6 at the four seed.
Whitney Benik and Lolita Frangulyan for the Gators had not lost a set all spring season prior to today's match. Diana Srebrovic and Lolita Frangulyan lead the Gators with seven wins over ranked opponents this season.
Florida head coach Ronald Thornqvist returned to his alma mater, he coached UNC from 1999-2001. The win for the Tar Heels marks only the ninth loss (106-9) of Thornqvist's five-year reign at Florida.
The Tar Heels will be back in action on Saturday, March 4 traveling to Indiana to take on the Hoosiers and Butler.
No. 10 North Carolina 4, No. 2 Florida 3
Doubles:
1.No. 10 Jenna Long/Sara Anundsen (UNC) d. No. 58 Whitney Benik/Alexis Gordon (UF) 8-4
2. Lolita Frangulyan/Diana Srebrovic (UF) d. No. 47 Caitlin Collins/Laura Reichert (UNC) 8-6
3. No. 48 Meg Fanjoy/Austin Smith (UNC) d. Keri Robison/Nina Suvak (UF) 8-5
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles:
1.Alexis Gordon (UF) d. No. 10 Jenna Long (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
2. No. 56 Caitlin Collins (UNC) d. No. 5 Diana Srebrovic (UF) 7-6 (5), 7-6 (7-5) *
3. No. 62 Sara Anundsen (UNC) d. No. 41 Boglarka Berecz (UF) 6-2, 6-2
4. No. 99 Whitney Benik (UF) d. Austin Smith (UNC) 7-5, 4-6, 6-0
5. Nina Suvak (UF) d. Laura Reichert (UNC) 6-2, 5-7, 6-1
6. Meg Fanjoy (UNC) d. Lolita Frangulyan (UF) 6-0, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 1, 3, 2, 5, 4
* Clinched the match
Players Mentioned
