Women's Tennis Falls to Florida, 5-1
6/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
March 25, 1999
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The top-ranked University of Florida women's tennis team won its 44th consecutive dual match Thursday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex, defeating a pesky Wake Forest team 5-1 in front of 230 fans.
The victory improved the Gators overall season record to 17-0, while the 17th-ranked Demon Deacons fell to 6-7.
Florida sophomore Stephanie Hazlett clinched the match for the Gators at the No. 4 position, holding off Maren Haus 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4 in a match that lasted almost three hours. The victory, which was Hazlett's 14th straight singles win, didn't come easily, though. Hazlett led 5-2 in the first set before Haus reeled off the next five games to claim the opening set. Haus assumed a 5-3 lead in the second before Hazlett stormed back, winning the first three points of the tiebreaker. The deciding set was a break-fest, with both players having trouble holding serve, including the final game of the match which Hazlett won.
"I had my chances in the first set but all of the sudden at 5-2 I fell back on my heels," Hazlett said. "That's the way I played into the second set until (UF assistant coach) Raj (Chaudhuri) came out and told me that I could win this match. Then I was able to turn things around. The third set was tight, but thank goodness I was more up than down and was able to pull it out."
"I thought Wake Forest competed much better today than they did when we played then at the National Team Indoor Championships," UF head coach Andy Brandi said referring to last February's convincing 6-0 Gator win over the Demon Deacons. "We may have had a false sense of security because of that other match. Today, we would take leads, then they would close the gap. They have three freshmen in their lineup and they have needed some time to adjust to college tennis. That's the difference we saw today. Wake Forest is definitely one of the top 10 teams in the country."
The Gator victory lifted Brandi's overall coaching record to an incredible 397-35 in 15 seasons, all at Florida.
The Demon Deacons also battled their emotions following the resignation coach Lew Gerrard, who unexpectedly stepped down from his position on Wednesday after 12 years with the Wake Forest program.
"We were all very surprised about Lew's decision to resign, but everyone supports him 100 percent," Wake Forest assistant coach Brian Fleishman said. "I thought we prepared very well to play Florida and competed hard. Florida is the top-ranked team in the country and you can't help but get excited to play them."
Wake Forest's Janet Bergman sounded the first shot that today's match was going to be much tougher than the previous meeting. Bergman soundly defeated Stephanie Nickitas 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 position to give the Demon Deacons an early 1-0 lead.
M.C. White then tied the team score after her 6-1, 6-4 victory over Lea Miller at No. 6. Traci Green followed shortly thereafter with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Jackie Houston at No. 4.
Gator sophomore Whitney Laiho then turned in a gritty 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 victory over Mariel Verban at the No. 1 position. The two sophomores trained together at Van Der Meer Tennis Academy in Hilton Head, S.C., prior to jumping into the college ranks.
"Whitney and Mariel know each others games very well so there were a lot of mental games being played out there," Brandi said. "You couldn't tell who was going to win that match until the final point was played."
UF junior Baili Camino staved off Annemarie Milton 7-5, 7-5 at the No. 5 position, before Hazlett provided the clinching dual match point. Doubles was not played.
Florida next travels to Austin for a match-up with ninth-ranked Texas (9-5) on Sat., March 27. Wake Forest plays at No. 20 Florida State on Fri., March 26.
NCAA Women's Tennis
Final Score: Florida 5, Wake Forest 1
Singles
No. 1 Whitney Laiho (UF) d. Mariel Verban (WF) 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 No. 2 Janet Bergman (WF) d. Stephanie Nickitas (UF) 6-3, 6-2 No. 3 Stephanie Hazlett (UF) d. Maren Haus (WF) 5-7, 7-6 (4), 6-4* No. 4 Traci Green (UF) d. Jackie Houston (WF) 6-4, 6-3 No. 5 Baili Camino (UF) d. Annemarie Milton (WF) 7-5, 7-5 No. 6 M.C. White (UF) d. Lea Miller (WF) 6-1, 6-4Doubles not played *clinching dual match