Gainesville, Fla. ? The host Florida Gator women's tennis team showed why they are ranked fourth in the nation, sweeping the Stetson Hatters (0-1) 7-0 Wednesday afternoon in the dual match opener for both schools.? Freshman Megan Jones (Miramar, Fla./Broward Virtual Education) put up a tough fight in her first collegiate team match.
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Jones was able to take several games off Florida's Lolita Frangulyan at #6 singles, eventually falling 6-3, 6-2.? At #2 singles, sophomore Breanna Atkinson (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch HS) battled nationally 59th-ranked Csilla Borsanyi in a 6-2, 6-1 loss while sophomore Natalie Gorham (Miami, Fla./Palmetto HS) was also handed a monumental task as she was beaten 6-0, 6-0 by the #37-ranked player in Division I, Megan Alexander.
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Sophomore Valentina Galbarini (Montevideo, Uruguay) lost 6-1, 6-0 at #1 singles to Julia Cohen and freshman Unnati Purushotham (Hyderabad, India) lost by the same score at #3 to Whitney Benik.? Senior Catherine Canady (Jacksonville, Fla./Bolles School) played #5 singles and lost 6-0, 6-0 to Marrit Boonstra.
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Galbarini and Purushotham, playing #1 doubles, fared the best of Stetson's three pairs, managing to take two games off Alexander and Boonstra in an 8-2 loss.? Gorham and sophomore Katherine Nowicki (Jacksonville, Fla./Providence HS) were blanked 8-0 by Benik and Borsanyi while Atkinson and junior Katherine St. Clair (West Palm Beach, Fla./Cardinal Newman HS) fell 8-1 to Cohen and Frangulyan.
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The Hatters are certainly not the first team to struggle with the Gators on the road; Florida has now won 57 consecutive home regular season matches and 43 straight home matches overall.
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Stetson plays its home opener tomorrow against another nationally ranked opponent as the #29 USF Bulls come to the Mandy Stoll Tennis Center for a match that will start at 2:30 p.m.
