The doubles court highlighted the Seminole All-Conference Showdown for the Gators, which helped to offset a lackluster day of singles play.
UF’s duo of freshman Marlee Zein and junior Tsveta Dimitrova won both of its matches on Friday to move on to the Flight A Championship in the doubles bracket.
The two kicked off the day with a match against West Virginia’s Sofia Duran and Anastasiia Bovoloskaya. Zein and Dimitrova thumped the pair of Mountaineers en route to a 6-1 victory.
Zein and Dimitrova’s opposition in their second match was Anna Makarova and Lexi Keberle of Wisconsin. The Gators’ doubles team notched pulled away from Makarova and Keberle in a 6-2 win.
“I really liked how we started both matches,” associate head coach Dave Balogh said in a release. “We were very aggressive but also displayed great body language and energy as well.”
The pairing’s next match on Saturday will be against Ana Oparenovic and Petra Hule of rival Florida State.
The two’s success in doubles did not carry over into singles play, however. Zein fell to Katty Weymouth of Furman 6-4, 2-6, 10-8 in the first round of the Flight A singles bracket. Dimitrova did the same against Keberle, who avenged her loss earlier in the morning with a 6-4, 6-2 win.
Dimitrova and Zein will both play in the consolation singles bracket of their respective flights.
Sophomore Katie Kubicz was the only Gator to score a victory in singles play. Kubicz swept her match with Wisconsin’s Melissa Pick by a score of 7-5, 6-1. She will face Lucia Montano of North Florida in the next round of Flight C’s singles bracket.
"Overall, both Wisconsin and Furman played very well,” said Balogh. “We just need to get a bit better at the end of close sets, on those big deuce points, and in super tiebreaks."
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 or contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org
Junior Tsveta Dimitrova (pictured) and her doubles partner, freshman Marlee Zein, advanced to the Flight A Championship match in the doubles bracket of the Seminole All-Conference Showdown.
