The UF women's tennis team continued its dominance of in-state rival Florida State on Wednesday, but it wasn't as easy as the score might indicate.
The No. 5 Gators posted a 6-1 victory to push their all-time record against the No. 20 Seminoles to 48-0.
"Probably about an hour and change into the singles match, it was dicey," UF coach Roland Thornqvist said. "It was tight on almost every court. And so I really liked how we responded at that point."
UF (5-1) jumped out to an early lead in doubles after being pushed by FSU for a while, but the Gators were eventually able to put away the Seminoles late in each set, winning all three courts by scores of 8-5, 8-4 and 8-5.
In singles, UF jumped out to early leads on several courts before FSU tightened things up.
"It was good to see how we could turn it on in another gear when the match got close there in singles," Thornqvist said. "That, to me, speaks volumes."
Senior Whitney Benik was first off the courts for UF, knocking off her opponent 6-2, 6-4 to give her team a 2-0 advantage.
FSU took its first match in a straight-sets win, and with two UF players already down a set, the match was still up for grabs.
Freshman Julia Cohen continued her solid play with a 6-3, 6-3 win against the No. 46 player in the nation. Cohen has yet to lose a match in her young collegiate career.
"I got down in the second set, but I was able to win that," Cohen said. "I was just really happy when I won the last point, just to get it over with."
Thornqvist said he was impressed with Cohen's play.
"Julia's just tough," he said. "She just finds a way. What I like about her is she's very smart, and she'll find a way to get under your skin or do something that you don't like. And the mental toughness is what wins championships."
Sophomore Marrit Boonstra was finally able to clinch the match for the Gators in a comeback from 0-40 in her final game. She won 6-2, 6-4.
UF picked up its final two wins in third sets after the match was clinched.
Sophomore Anastasia Revzina was able to turn things around from a lowly first set to win 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
After watching her struggle in her first set, Thornqvist had a word with her during the changeover in the middle of the second set.
"I said, 'Look, we need you. We need this court.' And from then on, she turned it on," Thornqvist said.
Sophomore Csilla Borsanyi completed the dual-match play with a hard fought 5-7, 6-4, 1-0 (10-6) win for UF.
The Gators have now won two matches in a row against top-ranked teams and will continue to be tested on Sunday at No. 27 Texas.
"Playing these quality matches is really good for our development," Thornqvist said.
