Hurricanes Stun No. 1 Florida With 4-3 Victory
May 15, 2004
Box Score in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
CORAL GABLES, Fla.-Freshman Audrey Banada (North Miami Beach, Fla.) clinched a 4-3 victory over No. 1 Florida as the No. 23-ranked Miami women’s tennis team hands the Gators their first loss of the 2004 season at the NCAA Tennis Regionals in Gainesville, Fla.
The loss marks the earliest exit for a No. 1 seed since the NCAA expanded to a 64-team tournament in 1999. The No. 1 seed had reached the final every year since 1999. Florida had also advanced to at least the NCAA quarterfinals each of the last 17 years and at least the semifinals 16 of the last 17 tournaments; and finals each of the past two win the 2003 championship. Florida’s four NCAA titles are second-most to Stanford 12.
“Our girls just fought so incredibly hard,” Miami head coach Paige Yaroshuk said. “We’ve known for many years that you not only need talent but fight to beat Florida. It takes a lot to go out and compete against a team like that and we did that today. We’ve come here so many times and got our butts kicked, but today we fought really hard.”
Miami advances to the Round of 16 at the NCAA Tennis Tournament in Athens, Ga. The Hurricanes will face the winner of the Oklahoma/Tulane match Thursday, May 20 at Noon.
The Hurricanes improve to 19-3 while Gators end their season at 23-1. Miami improves to 22-31 in the all-time series with Florida. The Hurricanes had not beaten the Gators since the 1986 season.
Miami entered singles play with a 1-0 advantage winning at No. 1 and No. 3 doubles.
Melissa Applebaum (Coral Gables, Fla.) and Megan Bradley (Columbia, Mo.) ranked No. 30 in doubles knocked off the No. 4 doubles duo of Alexis Gordon and Julie Rotondi 8-4 at the No. 1 spot.
Banada and Mari Toro (Miami, Fla.) clinched the doubles win with a 9-8 victory over Boglarka Berecz and Nina Suvak at the No. 3 position.
The Gators tied the match one-all as No. 72 Rotondi beat Sara Robbins (Tuscon, Ariz.) 6-4, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.
The Hurricanes quickly answered back with consecutive wins at No. 4 and No. 1 singles to take the 3-1 advantage.
Staci Stevens (Hammond, La.) knocked off No. 82 Berecz 6-3, 6-4 at No. 4 singles. Bradley ranked No. 4 in singles play knocked off No. 2 Gordon 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot.
The Gators tied the match at three-all with straight set wins at No. 2 and No. 3 singles.
The match came down to court No. 5 where UM freshman Banada won the first set 7-5 before falling 6-2 in the second set to No. 116 Lindsay Dawaf. With the match on the line she came through and pulled out a 6-4 victory in the third set.
Miami has not advanced to the NCAA Round of 16 since the 1999 season.
Match Notes:*this was the first time Florida has lost the doubles point this season …
*the last time UF lost the doubles point was 28 matches ago, when Tulane took two of three doubles matches in the second round of the 2003 NCAA Championships …
*Miami improves to 18-0 this season when winning the doubles point …
*Florida had its 40 match win streak halted (last loss was a 4-3 setback to Vanderbilt on March 16, 2003 …
*the Gators had won 32 straight home matches prior to tonight’s loss …
*UF’s Lindsay Dawaf had entered today’s No. 5 singles match with a 20-0 record this season …
*Zerene Reyes won her 18th straight singles matches …
*UF doubles team of Jennifer Magley & Zerene Reyes won their 21st straight …
*UM’s Megan Bradley won her 17th straight singles match …
*Miami is 1-2 this season against top-25 ranked opponents …
*UF leads the all-time series against UM 31-21 and had won 23 straight meetings prior to tonight’s outcome …
*UM’s last win versus UF prior to tonight was on March 29, 1986 (7-1 in Coral Gables)
No. 23 Miami 4, No. 1 Florida 3
NCAA Regional – May 15, 2004
Ring Tennis Complex * Gainesville, Florida
Singles
No. 1 – Megan Bradley (4) (UM) def. Alexis Gordon (2) (UF) 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 – Jennifer Magley (19) (UF) def. Melissa Applebaum (UM) 6-3, 6-3
No. 3 – Zerene Reyes (66) (UF) def. Mari Toro (UM) 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 – Staci Stevens (UM) def. Boglarka Berecz (82) (UF) 6-3, 6-4
*No. 5 – Audrey Banada (UM) def. Lindsay Dawaf (116) (UF) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
No. 6 – Julie Rotondi (72) (UF) def. Sara Robbins (UM) 6-4, 6-0
Doubles
No. 1 – Applebaum/Bradley (30) (UM) def. Gordon/Rotondi (4) (UF) 8-4
No. 2 – Magley/Reyes (20) (UF) def. Robbins/Stevens (UM) 9-7
*No. 3 – Banada/Toro (UM) def. Berecz/Suvak (UF) 9-8
*-clinched
