The No. 1 seed and regular season SEC champion Florida women’s tennis team fell just short of winning the tournament title, losing 4-2 in the SEC Tournament semifinals to Vanderbilt on Saturday.
The Gators dropped the doubles point after a tough fight. Vanderbilt took the early lead on all three courts, but Florida came back full force to take back the leads. Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan came back on Court 1 from a 4-1 deficit to win 8-4. Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock went to a tiebreak on Court 2, and fell 8-7, evening the score. Spencer Liang and Peggy Porter dropped a 7-5 lead to lose their match 8-7, giving the Commodores the point.
Vanderbilt took a 2-0 lead after Courtney Colton swept Keegan in two sets, 6-2 and 6-0.
Austin got revenge for her regular season loss to Vanderbilt’s Sydney Campbell, sweeping her match 7-5 and 6-3, and putting the Gators on the board. The score was evened up after Woolcock also got some regular season revenge defeating Marie Casares, 7-6 and 6-3.
The Commodores came back to get a victory over Porter after three sets, dropping the second to Florida. The Gators needed both remaining courts to win to move on, but Vanderbilt’s Astra Sharma defeated Kuhlman in the third set, taking the final point and the win.
The match-ups for the NCAA Tournament will be announced on April 28th. The first and second rounds of competition will be held at various campus sites, beginning on May 9th.