GAINESVILLE - For a team that cruised through the regular season undefeated, starting a postseason with a 4-0 win is more routine than impressive.
The Florida women's tennis team, ranked No. 2 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, defeated Hampton on Friday at Linder Stadium at the Ring Tennis Complex in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. No match lasted longer than an hour and three of the four matches won by Florida (23-0) lasted less than 36 minutes.
Each of the Gators' three singles competition wins came from the bottom three courts, with Julie Rotondi clinching it with a 6-0, 6-3 win against Jana Korycanova.
UF clinched the doubles point with wins by Rotondi and Alexis Gordon, and Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes.
"We were facing the nation's No. 1 team and they were a little intimidated from the very beginning," Hampton coach Robert Screen said.
UF faces Miami in the second round at 5 today. UM (18-3) defeated South Alabama 4-1.
USF names assistant
TAMPA - Julius Allen has made the coaching rounds looking for his big break. The native New Yorker found it at South Florida.
Allen, 45, who has coached at five schools the past six seasons, was named an assistant men's basketball coach at USF.
"I grew up in Harlem, and the Big East has always been a place that I would love to work," said Allen, who coached at Howard, Northeastern, Towson, McNeese State and LIU since 1997-98. "I want to go back to the Big East, to (Madison Square) Garden, and win the Big East championship. I believe we can attract the players to do that.
"I feel like I'm 25 today, or 18. This is exciting. I've got a pep in my step."
USF coach Robert McCullum said he wanted someone with Northeast connections. According to New York's Daily News, Maurice Hicks, the coach at Rice High in Manhattan, was a finalist.
"(Allen's) experience ... will enable him to come in and make his presence felt immediately," McCullum said. "Julius is well-known throughout the Northeast, especially in the New York City area, as well as in New Jersey and Washington, D.C."
Allen played two years at an Oklahoma junior college, one at Oregon State and one at Southern Nazarene University in Bethany, Okla., which he helped lead to the NAIA national title in 1981.
He played professionally in South America then got his start as a youth coach at the Boys & Girls club in the neighborhood in which he grew up.
McCullum expects to name another assistant in early June.
MORE BASKETBALL: Kyle McAlarney, a point guard from Staten Island, N.Y., orally committed to play at Notre Dame in fall 2005. He averaged 34.7 points.
BASEBALL: Aaron Cheesman had four RBIs and stole home, and Ryne Malone had a three-run homer as host Florida State (32-19, 11-8 ACC) dominated Duke 14-1. ... Trailing 4-0, a Florida rally in the eighth fell short and the host Gators (37-14, 16-9 SEC) lost 4-2 against Mississippi. ... Casey Hudepth had a career-high 10 strikeouts and visiting USF (30-20, 11-13 C-USA) defeated UAB 23-5. Bulls third baseman J. Baisley went 5-for-6, tying the school record for hits and runs (five). ... J.D. Cockroft gave up four runs on six hits in six innings and host Miami lost 4-1 to North Carolina. ... Tampa and Rollins combined for 23 hits as the Tars eliminated the Spartans 4-2 at the Division II South Region in Winter Park. Erick Monzon went 3-for-5 for Tampa (41-16).
FOOTBALL: Virginia Tech quarterback Marcus Vick was cleared of charges he had sex with a 15-year-old girl, but he was convicted of serving alcohol to a minor. Vick was sentenced to 30 days in jail and fined $2,250 for contributing to the delinquency of a minor. ... Colorado coaches regularly charged the school for beer delivered to their hotel rooms the night before away games, an audit found. The practice violates state rules.
SOFTBALL: FSU (55-9) held off a seventh-inning rally to beat Georgia Tech 3-2 in the ACC Championships. ... Florida (40-18) was eliminated from the SEC tournament, losing 7-5 to Tennessee.
TRACK: The USF women remained in first with 35 points and the men were fifth at the C-USA Championships in Louisville, Ky.
- Times staff writer Pete Young contributed to this report, which used information from Times wires.
