Colleges

Florida's women advance to tennis' round of 16

By wire services
Published May 15, 2005

GAINESVILLE - Senior Zerene Reyes won her 100th singles match to lead Florida to a 4-0 victory over Florida International in the second round of the NCAA women's tennis tournament. The Gators advanced to the round of 16 for the 22nd time in their 24-year history and face Baylor at 6 p.m. Thursday in Athens, Ga.

Jennifer Magley and Zerene Reyes won their match 8-3, but FIU won the second doubles match. Lolita Frangulyan and Nina Suvak gave Florida the point by winning 8-5.

A day after winning 6-0, 6-0, Whitney Benik beat Shilla D'Armas 6-1, 6-1. Reyes made it 3-0 by becoming the 20th Gator to reach 100 wins, beating Egle Petrauskaite 6-1, 6-2. And for the second straight day, freshman Lolita Frangulyan sealed it for the Gators, beating Bruna Discordia 6-2, 6-3.

Florida State and Florida swept their first-round matches of the NCAA men's tennis tournament. The Seminoles beat Ball State 4-0 in Lexington, Ky., and the host Gators beat Central Florida 4-0.

Rain forced the Seminoles indoors. But FSU, which had lost all three of its indoor matches this season, had few problems.

Jeff Groslimond-Chris Westerhof and Jonathas Sucupira-Chip Webb won in doubles. Sophomore Ytai Abougzir beat Tony Epkey 6-3, 6-1. Groslimond followed with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Paul Newman. And Westerhof sealed FSU's first indoor win since the 2003 ACC tournament against Georgia Tech by beating Klint Knable 6-4, 6-2.

In Gainesville, Florida ousted UCF for the third consecutive season. The Gators earned the doubles point with victories by Nestor Briceno-Stefan Tell and Chris Brandi-Jordan Dolberg.

Briceno trailed 5-0 in the first set but won the next 11 games for a 7-5, 6-1 win over Sinan Sudas. Ryan Sherry beat Simon Jaeger 6-4, 6-4, and Vladimir Obradovic sealed it by beating Antonio Sierra 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

CONFERENCE USA: Host Houston won the men's and women's titles. USF's women, led by women's co-athlete of the meet Chandra Brewer, finished fourth. Brewer won the shot put with a meet-record throw of 16.57 meters then won the discus (47.53). The men, led by Jaydian Miller's triple jump title and Jonathan Miller's pole vault title, finished fifth.

SEC: Mike Morrison became the first Gator since Ron Jourdan in 1970 to win the indoor and outdoor high jump titles in the same season and the first since Jourdan in 1969-70 to win consecutive outdoor titles. That helped Florida to third with after three days in Nashville. The Gators have 40 points, four behind Arkansas and eight behind Tennessee.

The women, led by fourth-place finishes by Rachel Longfors in the discus and Krystle Moss in the high jump, stood eighth. Arkansas leads with 52.2 points, six more than Georgia.

FSU: Ricardo Chambers set a school record in the 400 meters at the Georgia Tech Invitational. The freshman finished in 44.87, the nation's best this season.

SOFTBALL: DePaul won its fourth consecutive C-USA title 6-2 over Louisville at the USF Softball Complex. After Louisville ousted Houston 11-0, DePaul scored four in the sixth to break a 2-2 tie. ... Tennessee beat Mississippi State 7-0 and Alabama 2-1 to stay alive in the SEC tournament in Gainesville. It must beat Alabama again at 9:30 a.m. today to reach today's final against Georgia, which ousted Auburn 7-3. ... Georgia Tech earned a spot in today's ACC final, beating Virginia 3-0. It faces the winner of the late game between Virginia and Virginia Tech, which ousted Maryland 5-3.

BASEBALL: Ryne Malone's three-run homer with two outs in the ninth lifted host FSU over North Carolina 6-5. ... Alan Horne pitched his first complete game, striking out nine, in host Florida's 2-1 win over Mississippi State. The Gators moved into first overall and in the SEC East by a half-game when Tennessee lost to LSU 9-3. ... Drew Carson hit two homers to lead host Southern Miss to an 8-6 win over USF.

[Last modified May 15, 2005, 01:22:06]