The Gators tennis teams each held their official senior day ceremonies in April, but for both teams the true senior day came this past weekend.
Marrit Boonstra played role of clincher in her last match at home on Saturday to lead the No. 3 women’s team (26-2) to a 4-0 victory over No. 29 Washington (12-7).
Boonstra’s first opportunity to help clinch came in doubles competition after the No. 29 team of freshman Lauren Embree and sophomore Joanna Mather shutout Lina Xu and Venise Chan 8-0 on court No. 2.
The No. 5 team of Boonstra and freshman Allie Will clinched the doubles point with an 8-1 win over the No. 21 team of Denise Dy and Joyce Ardies.
“I was absolutely ecstatic about the doubles we played because this was some of the best doubles we played all year,” UF women’s coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We’ve been trying to be more aggressive and that clearly showed through the work they put in the last three weeks of practice. We beat very good doubles teams.”
In singles, Florida did not slow down.
Wins at Nos. 5 and 6 by Joanna Mather and Caroline Hitimana left Boonstra and fellow senior Anastasia Revzina in a race to the finish for who would be the clinching win to send the Gators to the round of 16.
No. 65 Boonstra came through for Florida at court No. 3 with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Joyce Ardies.
“To clinch the victory at my last home match was amazing,” Boonstra said.
Boonstra and Revzina leave UF 55-0 at Linder Stadium, contributing significantly to the Gators’ current 82-match home winning streak.
UF’s current 19-match winning streak will be put to the test in the round of 16 against familiar foe Mississippi on Thursday in Athens, Ga.
On Sunday, another UF senior, Antoine Benneteau, made his last home match memorable in helping his team defeat Auburn (12-13) 4-0 to advance to the round of 16.
The No. 8 doubles team of Benneteau and junior Alexandre Lacroix started its day with an impressive 8-3 win over the No. 10 team of Tim Puetz and Alex Stamchev.
In singles, Florida trailed in three matches, but three victories to clinch the win came before those were played out.
Freshman Sekou Bangoura Jr. was the first to finish with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Oliver Strecker at court No. 5.
Benneteau did not get to play clincher at his last home match, instead he set up the victory with a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 105 Stamchev at No. 3.
Benneteau did not mind that sophomore Nassim Slilam provided the clinching win, 6-4, 6-3 over Andy Mies at No. 6.
“I’m so happy about what Nassim (Slilam) did during these two days,” Benneteau said. “He’s been through a lot this semester with a new language and going to school.”
UF men’s coach Andy Jackson revealed Slilam is not the only one who has “been through a lot.”
“Last year at this time, we came into the same room when we lost to Miami in a very tough 4-3 loss, and Antoine (Benneteau) was playing with a sports hernia and didn’t say one word about it,” Jackson said. “He’s worked for a year to get back to today.”
The work paid off, as this year the men’s team returns to the round of 16 in Athens, Ga., to face conference-rival and tournament host Georgia on Friday.
