Gators punch ticket to Finals with win over Tigers

BATON ROUGE, La. -- The No. 3 University of Florida women's tennis team defeated the No. 12 Auburn Tigers, 4-2 on Saturday afternoon in the semifinal match of the 2016 SEC Tennis Tournament. Florida has now won 14 straight dual matches and will play the Georgia Bulldogs for the SEC Tournament Championship tomorrow at 12 p.m. ET.

After dropping the doubles point for only the third time this season, the Gators came storming back in singles play at the LSU Tennis Complex. Sophomore Anna Danilina was the first off the court with a dominating, 6-1, 6-1 win over Paula DeMan on court five. Fellow-sophomore Josie Kuhlman was next with her 6-1, 6-3 win on court four.

A hard fought match on court one between Brooke Austin and No. 20-ranked Andie Dikosavljevic went the Gators' way, 6-2, 7-5 to push the lead to 3-2. On court six, Spencer Liang came back from down 4-love in the first set to win 7-5. There was no contest in the second set as the Potomac, Md. native blanked Turner, 6-0 to give the Orange and Blue the victory and a trip to the SEC Tournament final.

Florida will compete against the No. 4 Georgia Bulldogs on Sunday at 12 p.m. ET for the program's 20th SEC Tournament title. UF blanked Georgia on April 15 in Athens to win the outright 2016 SEC Regular Season Championship.

Head Coach Roland Thornqvist

On the resiliency of singles play the Gators showed...

"I thought we played really well in singles. We were resilient, but we were also together. I love the fact how we communicate between courts and that helps, especially when you are down. It helps bring back the momentum. We were off to a fast start on a couple of courts and that fed off itself through our communication.

Spencer made good decisions. She was very smart. Those are two players who don't necessarily put the ball away, so you have to win with your head. She is great at that. She knows when to come in, sneak in, punch off a volley, and I thought over time she showed her strengths down there. Brooke was fantastic also. That is a great player at one so I was really happy to take four matches in straight sets."