Florida Gators women's tennis
Encyclopedia
University of Florida
The University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
in the sport of tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
. The Lady Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) and the Southeastern Conference
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...
(SEC). They play their home matches in Linder Stadium
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex is the intercollegiate tennis facility at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. It is home stadium and training facility for the Florida Gators women's tennis and the Florida Gators men's tennis teams.- Stadium :Linder Stadium is a 1,000-seat...
on the university's Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
campus, and are currently led by head coach Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
. In the thirty-nine-year history of the Gators women's tennis program, the team has won twenty-five SEC championships and five NCAA national tournament championships.
History
The origins of the Florida Gators women's tennis team date to 1960, when Florida undergraduate Alice TymAlice Tym
Alice Luthy Tym , née Alice Luthy, is a former American college and amateur tennis player who was ranked as high as No. 13 in the world in the mid-1960s. She later became a college tennis coach, tennis writer and university instructor.- Early life and education :Tym was born in Peoria, Illinois...
organized and led a successful intercollegiate women's tennis club team. As Title IX
Title IX
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a United States law, enacted on June 23, 1972, that amended Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In 2002 it was renamed the Patsy T. Mink Equal Opportunity in Education Act, in honor of its principal author Congresswoman Mink, but is most...
expanded opportunities for women in college sports, the University of Florida sponsored its first intercollegiate varsity women's tennis team in 1972–1973. In the early years of the program, the Lady Gators were a perennial top-ten team in the national championship tournaments sponsored by the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women
The Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women was founded in 1971 to govern collegiate women's athletics in the United States and to administer national championships. It evolved out of the Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics for Women . The association was one of the biggest...
(AIAW), including a second-place finish in the 1980 AIAW tournament.
Since the NCAA began sponsoring national championships in women's sports in 1981–1982, the Lady Gators have won five NCAA team championships, four NCAA singles championships, and four NCAA doubles championships. In addition to their five NCAA team championships, the Lady Gators have also finished second in the NCAA national championships tournament seven times, including 1988, 1990, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2002 and 2010. As a team, the Gators have failed to qualify for the AIAW and NCAA national championship tournaments only three times (1973, 1986 and 2009).
The Gators have also dominated the Southeastern Conference, winning twenty-five conference championships and seventeen SEC tournament titles since the SEC sanctioned women's tennis as a conference sport in 1980.
Brandi era: 1985–2001
Led by their fourth-year coach, Andy BrandiAndy Brandi
Andres V. "Andy" Brandi is a former American college and professional tennis coach. Brandi was formerly the head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
, the Florida Gators women's tennis team made its first appearance in the NCAA championship tournament finals in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1988. The Lady Gators entered the tournament the top-seeded team, but were decisively upset by the Stanford Cardinal
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...
women's tennis team, five matches to two, in the final of the team championship. The Gators' No. 1 singles player, Shaun Stafford, was upset in the team championships, but recovered to win the individual NCAA singles championship by defeating her teammate Halle Cioffi in the championship final.
The Lady Gators hosted the NCAA national championship tournament on their home courts at Linder Stadium in Gainesville for the first time in 1990. Led by their top singles players, freshman Andrea Farley and junior Nicole Arendt
Nicole Arendt
Nicole J. Arendt is an American professional tennis player. Arendt won sixteen doubles titles in her career. The left-hander reached her highest singles ranking on the WTA Tour on June 16, 1997, when she was ranked forty-ninth in the world...
, the second-seeded Gators battled to the championship finals before falling to the top-seeded Stanford Cardinal women, five matches to one.
The Gators won their first NCAA national team championship in Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
in 1992. Led by star freshman Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond
Lisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
, the Gators beat the Texas Longhorns women's tennis team five matches to three. Raymond also won the individual 1992 NCAA championship in singles.
In 1995, for the fourth time in eight seasons, the Lady Gators reached the championship finals of the NCAA tournament, held in Malibu, California. After blazing through the first three rounds of the tournament without losing a single match, the Texas Longhorns edged the Gators in the finals, five matches to four, in one of the most evenly matched championship finals ever held.
In 1996, Brandi's top-ranked and undefeated Gators earned their second NCAA team championship in Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
. Lady Gators Jill Craybas
Jill Craybas
- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
, Dawn Buth, Lisa Pugliese and Stephanie Nickitas won their singles matches, and Craybas and Lori Ann Freedman won the doubles match, as the team decisively defeated the Stanford Cardinal women five matches to two. The Lady Gators' previous record against the Cardinal in NCAA tournament play was 0–3. Craybas also claimed the individual 1996 NCAA singles championship, and Buth and Nickitas won the 1996 NCAA doubles title—only the second time in NCAA history that a women's team won the national team, singles and doubles titles in the same season. The Gators finished the season 31–0 in team matches, and defeated twenty college teams ranked among the top twenty-five in the country.
The top-seeded Gators reached the championship finals of the NCAA tournament for the third straight year in 1997, before falling to the Stanford Cardinal, five matches to one, in Palo Alto.
Brandi's undefeated Lady Gators claimed their third NCAA team championship in 1998 by crushing the Duke Blue Devils
Duke Blue Devils
Duke University's 26 varsity sports teams, known as the Blue Devils, compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The name comes from the French "les Diables Bleus" or "the Blue Devils," which was the nickname given during World War I to the Chasseurs Alpins, the French Alpine light infantry...
women's tennis team, five matches to one, in South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
. Led by seniors Bonnie Bleecker and Stephanie Nickitas, the second-seeded Gators won the doubles match and four of the five singles matches in the tournament final.
At the 1999 NCAA tournament held in Gaiensville, the top-seeded Gators women's tennis team returned to the championship finals for the fifth consecutive season, but lost to its national rival, the Stanford Cardinal, five matches to two, for the fourth time since 1988.
During Brandi's seventeen-year tenure, three individual Gators won four NCAA singles championships: Shaun Stafford in 1988; Lisa Raymond in 1992 and 1993; and Jill Craybas in 1996. In NCAA doubles championship play, three Gators doubles teams have won four NCAA doubles championships: Jillian Alexander and Nicole Arendt in 1991; Dawn Buth and Stephanie Nickitas in 1996 and 1997; and Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lehnhoff in 2001.
Thornqvist era: 2002 to present
In his first season the Lady Gators' new head coach, Roland ThornqvistRoland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
returned the Gators to the finals of the 2002 NCAA championship tournament in Palo Alto, California. The top-seeded Gators faced the Stanford Cardinal women's tennis team for the second consecutive year in the NCAA tournament, and suffered the same fate: a 4–1 loss to the Cardinal.
The Gators won their fourth NCAA team championship in 2003, and their first under new head coach Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist
Roland Thornqvist is a Swedish-born American college tennis coach and former college tennis player. Thornqvist is the current head coach of the Florida Gators women's tennis team of the University of Florida...
, by defeating the top-ranked and defending NCAA champion Stanford Cardinal
Stanford Cardinal
The Stanford Cardinal is the nickname of the athletic teams at Stanford University.-Nickname and mascot history:Following its win over Cal in the first-ever Big Game in 1892, the color cardinal was picked as the primary color of Stanford's athletic teams...
women's tennis team four matches to three in Gainesville. Gators Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes won the doubles match, with Julia Scaringe, Julie Rotondi and Alexis Gordon winning singles matches to clinch the 2003 team title. The Cardinal women had previously beaten the Gators to win the NCAA team championships in the two preceding seasons.
After failing to qualify for the NCAA tournament in 2009, and after a six-season absence from the NCAA tournament finals, the Gators returned to the championship match in Athens, Georgia
Athens, Georgia
Athens-Clarke County is a consolidated city–county in U.S. state of Georgia, in the northeastern part of the state, comprising the former City of Athens proper and Clarke County. The University of Georgia is located in this college town and is responsible for the initial growth of the city...
2010, once again facing their old nemesis, the Stanford Cardinal women. In a closely contested championship final, the Cardinal edged the Lady Gators, four matches to three. It was the Gators' seventh second-place performance in the NCAA championships (six of those championship losses at the hands of Stanford).
Thornqvist's Lady Gators claimed the program's fifth NCAA team championship in 2011 by defeating the No. 1 ranked Stanford Cardinal women's tennis team on Stanford's home courts in Palo Alto. Led by sophomore Lauren Embree
Lauren Embree
Lauren Embree is an American college and international tennis player.Born in Naples, Florida, Embree made her USTA Pro Circuit debut at the age of 16. As a junior, she has competed in the 2006 U.S...
in a dramatic come-from-behind third-set victory, the Gators defeated the Cardinal four matches to three, by taking the doubles match and singles matches by freshmen Alex Cercone and Olivia Janowicz. It was the third time the Gators defeated Stanford in the NCAA championship finals.
Year-by-year results
Through the conclusion of the 2010–2011 season, the Lady Gators have compiled an overall win-loss record in dual matches of 875–128 (.872).| Season | Overall | SEC | National | SEC Season | SEC Tournament |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972-73 | 5-3 | - | - | - | - |
| 1973-74 | 8-2 | - | 14th AIAW | - | - |
| 1974-75 | 6-3 | - | 7th AIAW | - | - |
| 1975-76 | 5-5 | - | 11th AIAW | - | - |
| 1976-77 | 16-2 | - | 5th AIAW | - | - |
| 1977-78 | 12-3 | - | 4th AIAW | - | - |
| 1978-79 | 9-4 | - | 6th AIAW | - | - |
| 1979-80 | 15-3 | 2-0 | 2nd AIAW | 1st | - |
| 1980-81 | 11-17 | 2-0 | 4th AIAW | 1st | - |
| 1981-82 | 22-7 | 6-0 | T-10th NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1982-83 | 23-9 | 10-2 | T-12th NCAA | 2nd | 2nd |
| 1983-84 | 26-5 | 9-0 | T-7th NCAA | 1st | - |
| 1984-85 | 21-6 | 9-0 | T-7th NCAA | 1st | - |
| 1985-86 | 17-7 | 9-0 | - | 1st | - |
| 1986-87 | 29-1 | 9-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | - |
| 1987-88 | 29-2 | 9-0 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | - |
| 1988-89 | 26-3 | 9-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | - |
| 1989-90 | 32-3 | 11-1 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1990-91 | 31-1 | 12-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1991-92 | 30-0 | 14-0 | NCAA Champions | 1st | 1st |
| 1992-93 | 26-2 | 14-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1993-94 | 23-6 | 12-2 | T-5th NCAA | 2nd | 2nd |
| 1994-95 | 27-3 | 14-0 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1995-96 | 31-0 | 14-0 | NCAA Champions | 1st | 1st |
| 1996-97 | 31-1 | 14-0 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 1997-98 | 27-0 | 14-0 | NCAA Champions | 1st | 1st |
| 1998-99 | 31-2 | 13-1 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | 2nd |
| 1999–2000 | 25-3 | 10-1 | T-3rd NCAA | 2nd | 1st |
| 2000-01 | 24-3 | 11-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | t-3rd |
| 2001-02 | 24-2 | 10-1 | 2nd NCAA | 2nd | 1st |
| 2002-03 | 31-2 | 10-1 | NCAA Champions | 1st | 1st |
| 2003-04 | 23-1 | 11-0 | T-32nd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 2004-05 | 22-3 | 9-2 | T-3rd NCAA | t-2nd | 1st |
| 2005-06 | 25-2 | 11-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 2006-07 | 24-3 | 10-1 | T-5th NCAA | 1st | 2nd |
| 2007-08 | 24-3 | 11-0 | T-3rd NCAA | 1st | 2nd |
| 2008-09 | 16-10 | 7-4 | - | 4th | - |
| 2009-10 | 29-3 | 11-0 | 2nd NCAA | 1st | 1st |
| 2010-11 | 31-1 | 11-0 | NCAA Champions | 1st | 1st |
All-Americans
- Judy Acker - 1976 Singles
- Sherry Acker – 1977 Singles, 1978 Singles
- Jillian Alexander – 1990 Singles, 1991 Singles, 1991 Doubles
- Megan Alexander - 2007 Singles
- Nicole ArendtNicole ArendtNicole J. Arendt is an American professional tennis player. Arendt won sixteen doubles titles in her career. The left-hander reached her highest singles ranking on the WTA Tour on June 16, 1997, when she was ranked forty-ninth in the world...
– 1988 Singles, 1988 Doubles, 1989 Singles, 1989 Doubles, 1990 Singles, 1990 Doubles, 1991 Singles, 1991 Doubles - Amanda Basica - 1997 Singles
- Whitney Benik - 2005 Doubles
- Csilla Borsanyi - 2007 Singles
- Jill Brenner - 1993 Singles
- Dawn Buth – 1995 Singles, 1996 Singles, 1996 Doubles, 1997 Singles, 1997 Doubles, 1998 Singles, 1998 Doubles
- Halle Cioffi – 1988 Singles
- Kim Clingan - 1984 Singles
- Jill CraybasJill Craybas- Early years :Craybas was born in Providence, Rhode Island. She received an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she played for coach Andy Brandi's Florida Gators women's tennis team in National Collegiate Athletics Association competition from 1993 to...
– 1995 Singles, 1996 Singles - Holly Danforth – 1988 Singles, 1990 Singles
- Lindsay Dawaf - 2002 Singles, 2002 Doubles
- Cissie Donigan - 1981 Singles
- Ingelise Driehuis - 1989 Singles
- Andrea Farley – 1990 Singles, 1991 Singles, 1993 Singles
- Lolita Frangulyan - 2005 Doubles
- Cathy Goodrich – 1987 Singles, 1988 Singles, 1989 Singles, 1990 Singles
- Alexis Gordon – 2003 Singles, 2004 Singles, 2004 Doubles, 2006 Singles
- Stephanie Hazlett – 1999 Singles, 2000 Singles
- Jill HetheringtonJill HetheringtonJill Hetherington Hultquist is a former Canadian professional tennis player. Hultquist played college tennis for the University of Florida, and is the current women's tennis head coach at the University of Washington....
– 1984 Singles, 1985 Singles, 1986 Singles, 1987 Singles - Kathy Holton - 1983 Singles
- Whitney Laiho – 1999 Singles, 2000 Singles, 2000 Doubles, 2001 Singles, 2001 Doubles
- Jessica Lehnhoff – 1999 Doubles, 2000 Singles, 2000 Doubles, 2001 Singles, 2001 Doubles, 2002 Singles, 2002 Doubles
- Holly Lloyd – 1992 Singles
- Jennifer Magley – 2003 Doubles, 2004 Singles, 2005 Singles, 2005 Doubles
- Jan Martin – 1985 Singles, 1986 Singles
- Divya Merchant – 1996 Singles, 1997 Singles
- Siobhan Nicholson – 1988 Singles, 1989 Singles
- Stephanie Nickitas - 1996 Doubles, 1997 Doubles, 1998 Singles, 1998 Doubles, 1999 Singles, 1999 Doubles
- Joyce Portman – 1979 Singles, 1980 Singles
- Julie Pressly – 1978 Singles, 1980 Singles
- Lisa RaymondLisa RaymondLisa Raymond is an American professional tennis player who has achieved notable success in doubles tennis. On June 12, 2000, she reached the world number one ranking in doubles...
– 1992 Singles, 1993 Singles - Zerene Reyes – 2003 Doubles, 2005 Singles, 2005 Doubles
- Julie Rotondi – 2004 Doubles
- Diana Srebrovic - 2006 Singles, 2007 Singles
- Shaun Stafford – 1987 Singles, 1988 Singles
- M.C. White - 1997 Singles
- Tammy Whittington – 1985 Singles, 1987 Singles
See also
- Florida GatorsFlorida GatorsThe Florida Gators are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. The "Lady Gators" is an alternative nickname sometimes used by the Gators women's teams...
- Florida Gators men's tennisFlorida Gators men's tennisThe Florida Gators men's tennis team represents the University of Florida in the sport of tennis. The Gators compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletics Association and the Southeastern Conference . The team hosts its home matches in Linder Stadium on the university's Gainesville,...
- List of Florida Gators tennis players
- List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members
- List of University of Florida Olympians
- University Athletic AssociationUniversity of Florida Athletic AssociationThe University Athletic Association, Inc. is a non-profit corporation that is responsible for maintaining the Florida Gators intercollegiate sports program of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida...
External links
- GatorSports.com – Florida Gators sports news from The Gainesville Sun.
- GatorZone.com – Official webpage of the Florida Gators women's tennis team.