Certain days are more important than others. For Marrit Boonstra and Megan Alexander, today could be huge.
With a couple wins, the UF pair will earn a trip to the ITA National Indoor Championships at Virginia on Nov. 6-9. The National Indoor is the second of three tournaments that make up the ITA Grand Slam and features the premier college tennis stars.
A loss puts them in the Southeastern Conference Coaches Classic, which, incidentally, does not feature the cream of the crop.
Boonstra will play against Melissa Koning of Auburn in the semifinals of the ITA Southern Region Championships. A win puts Boonstra in the finals, automatically qualifying her for the National Indoor.
After her singles match, Boonstra will partner with Megan Alexander in the finals of the doubles division. The sixth-ranked pair will take on Christy Striplin and Noelle Hickey of Georgia Tech.
In order to reach this point, the Gators had to scrap through the busy schedule that is typical of an individual tournament. Alexander and Boonstra won three matches Friday, including an 8-3 win against Monika Dancevic and Cameron Ellis of SEC rival Georgia.
The Gator duo played a semifinal match Sunday against Kristi Boxx and Karen Nijssen of Ole Miss. The match went back-and-forth, with UF coming out on top 8-6.
Individual play began Saturday and was a successful day for Alexander, Boonstra and Anastasia Revzina. Each Gator won her two matches for the day.
Boonstra won both of her matches Sunday, beating Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech 7-5, 6-2 and No. 49 Michaela Kissel of Miami 6-0, 7-5. Falconi was the tournament's No. 2 seed and Kissel is ranked higher than No. 67 Boonstra, so both wins were impressive.
Sunday was not as virtuous for Alexander and Revzina. Alexander lost to Koning 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. A win would have pitted Alexander and Boonstra against each other, creating an interesting subplot for today.
Revzina lost to the tournament's No. 1 seed, Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia, 6-2, 6-1.
