The Daily Nole

FSU Women’s Tennis Ends Florida’s Season

Fred Wilson/FSU athletics

Florida State’s women’s tennis team looked like it would come up short in its quest to beat arch-rival and No. 9 national seed Florida for a second time in one season, but the Seminoles won the final three matches to stun their rivals in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Gainesville, 4-3.

After taking the doubles point on Saturday, FSU dropped the first three singles matches. Florida’s Anna Danilina, Peggy Porta and Josie Kuhlman collected straight set victories over FSU’s Carla Touly, Ariana Rahmanparast and Petra Hule, respectively, to give the Gators (19-9) a commanding 3-1 lead.

Gabriella Castaneda collected the only straight set victory for the Seminoles (19-12) over Florida’s Victoria Emma, 6-4, 6-4. After Nandini Das rallied to force a third set for the Seminoles, an injury to Florida’s McCartney Kessler forced her to concede, turning the attention to Court 6.

FSU’s Andrea Garcia had a chance to sweep Florida’s Katie Kubicz, but dropped a second set tiebreaker. She ultimately won the third set, giving FSU the match with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 win.

Florida State moves on to face Tulsa on Thursday in the Sweet 16. The Golden Hurricane upset No. 8 national seed Oklahoma State on Saturday to advance.

Mike Ferguson is the editor of The Daily Nole. Follow Mike on Twitter @MikeWFerguson

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