The Gators will send six to compete in the Southeast Regional hosted by Central Florida.
LAKE NONA, Fla. – The University of Florida women’s tennis program is slated to send six athletes to Lake Nona this weekend, Oct. 14-18, for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Southeast Regional Championships, hosted by Central Florida.
All six Gators will compete in the main draw of the championships, including Sydney Berlin, Carly Briggs, Alicia Dudeney, Emma Shelton, Bente Spee and Marlee Zein.
Teaming up in doubles competition will be Briggs/Zein and Shelton/Spee in the main draw. Dudeney/Berlin will compete in the doubles qualifying draw.
Overall, athletes from 18 schools across the southeast will be in the hunt for automatic bids to the 2021 ITA National Fall Championships in San Diego, Calif. The field includes student-athletes from Bethune Cookman, Central Florida, Florida, Florida A&M, Florida Atlantic, Florida Gulf Coast, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Georgia Tech, Kennesaw State, Mercer, Miami, North Florida, South Florida, and Stetson.
The lone Thursday competitors for the Gators, Dudeney and Berlin will take the court as the top-seed in the qualifying draw of doubles competition on Thursday, Oct. 14 at 9:45 a.m. ET. The pair will face the winner of the opening match of the day between Aldrich/Frediani (Georgia State) and Porter/Salinas (Florida A&M).
Singles and doubles matches in the main draw of the championships will be released on Thursday and begin on Friday, Oct. 15. No. 64 Zein leads the way for the Gators after capturing three ranked victories at the ITA Women’s All-American Championships a week ago, now boasting a fall singles record of 4-4. Also owning a ranked singles victory is No. 41 Carly Briggs who enters the weekend with a record of 3-3 while teammate Sydney Berlin also holds a ranked victory at a 5-4 mark in the fall.
Freshman Dudeney holds the top singles record of the Gator squad entering the regional, sitting at 6-1, including a ranked match-win over teammate, No. 84 Emma Shelton. Shelton, who is 3-1 through the second week of October in singles competition, won the doubles title with teammate Spee at the Bedford Cup. In singles play, Spee holds a mark of 5-4.
Due to COVID-19, this is the first ITA Regional Championship for the Gators since the 2019 campaign when current senior McCartney Kessler claimed the championship, managing to not drop a single set through the duration of the tournament.
DOUBLES QUALIFYING
9:45 a.m. – Dudeney/Berlin vs. Aldrich/Frediani (Georgia State) OR Porter/Salinas (Florida A&M)
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