Ida Jarlskog frustrated her opponent all match long.
She froze Oklahoma’s Martina Capurro with backhand winners. She disheartened her with every fierce “C’mon Gators!” grunt. And she forced Capurro’s shot into the net to clinch a match victory for Florida.
The Gators women’s tennis team defeated No. 28 Oklahoma 4-2 Friday night after falling to the Seminoles earlier this week.
After losing the doubles point for the fifth consecutive match, coach Roland Thornqvist said he was proud of his team for battling back.
“This Oklahoma team is really good. . . Losing the doubles point at home makes that mountain even bigger to climb,” Thornqvist said after the match. “But I thought our players were really good. They were methodical and really helped each other.”
Florida entered doubles play sluggish and trailed early on all three courts. All three duos — the freshmen: Marlee Zein and Anastasia Kharitonova, the sophomores: McCartney Kessler and Victoria Emma, and the transfers: Jarlskog and Tsveta Dimitrova — fought back to make their respective matches interesting, yet still fell with the sophomores losing 6-4 and the transfers 6-3.
Kharitonova came out aggressive in singles play tallying a crucial victory to get Florida on the board. She played an almost perfect match, dominating Ivana Corley en route to a 6-0, 6-0 victory, and claimed her fourth singles win of the season.
Within one minute, Florida went from being tied to holding a two-point match lead. No. 33 Kessler recovered from her disappointing straight set loss earlier this week against Florida State, defeating No. 60 Oleksandra Korashvil 6-4, 6-3.
Dimitrova subsequently claimed a victory and the third point of the match, defeating Kianah Motosoto (6-3, 6-4) after a hard-fought rally on the final point. She dropped the first three games of the match but heated up to win six straight games, the first set and, ultimately, the match.
No. 12 Jarlskog then claimed the final point for the Gators by defeating Capurro in three sets (6-4, 3-6, 6-1).
“I think with this team, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, it is going to take time for this young team to really find their feet every time,” Thornqvist said. “But there's no question we are getting better and that's really the only thing you can ask.”
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
The Gators women's tennis team defeated No. 28 Oklahoma 4-2 Friday night after falling to Florida State earlier in the week
