May 12, 2000

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The No. 22 Florida State women's tennis team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 5-3 win Friday over the University of Illinois. The win was the first in the NCAA Tournament in the history of the FSU women's tennis program. Florida State will face the winner of the Florida/Bethune-Cookman match on Saturday, May 13th at 4 p.m.

FSU's match against the 36th-ranked Fighting Illini on Friday lasted nearly five hours as players from both teams battled the intense heat. Florida State went down by two early in the singles portion of the match as Illinois took both points at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions. Florida State answered right back with Alida Gallovits' win at No. 1 singles finishing just moments after Illinois took their second point. Gallovits, who is ranked No. 48 in the country, defeated Illinois' Eldina Fazlic 6-3, 6-2.

With the score 2-1 in favor of Illinois, FSU's Kia Asberg broke Illinois' Brooke Ferney to go up 5-4 in the second set on court No. 3. Asberg, who had won the first set 6-3, served out the match to even the score at 2-2. FSU's Nanette Duxin would then come-from-behind in the second set tiebreaker to win her match and put FSU on top, 3-2. Duxin defeated Illinois' Simone Kung 6-2, 7-6 and 7-5 in the tiebreaker. Kung was winning the tiebreaker 5-2 at one point.

The match's focus then moved to court No. 6 where FSU's Ali Weber was battling Illinois' Natalia Manasova. Each player looked physically exhausted as their match approached the three hour mark. Weber was attempting to overcome a season-long shoulder injury as well as the intense heat that was beginning to cause her to cramp up. Manasova would win the battle 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5 to draw the match even at three heading into doubles.

In doubles, FSU scored quickly and was leading in all three of the matches early. The FSU tandem of Jessica Balbuena and Weber moved the Lady Seminoles one point closer to victory with an 8-4 win at No. 3 over the Illini's Manasova and Carla Rosenberg. Balbuena had battled through an illness that forced her to miss three of the team's last five workouts before the match.

With FSU one point away from clinching the match, the doubles matches on courts No. 1 and No. 2 were getting closer. FSU led 6-3 on court No. 1 and the match was tied at four on court No. 2. The FSU duo of Gallovits and Duxin put away the Illini's Ferney and Natascha Loebnitz at No. 1, 8-4, to give FSU its first ever NCAA Tournament victory.

"I think the team felt so bad for Ali after she lost that the team just wanted to win for her," said FSU head coach Lise Greogry. "Ali gave everything she had out there like she always does and she just didn't have enough left at the end. She played excellent today even though she lost. Ali is the epitome of bravery."

Florida State improves to 17-8 on the season while Illinois finishes the year with a record of 12-13.

Box Score

No. 22  Florida State   5
No. 36  Illinois        3

SINGLES
No. 1 #48 Alida Gallovits (FSU) d. Eldina Fazlic (UI) 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 Nanette Duxin (FSU) d. Simone Kung (UI) 6-2, 7-6(5)
No. 3 Kia Asberg (FSU) d. Brooke Ferney (UI) 6-3, 6-4
No. 4 Natascha Loebnitz (UI) d. Jessica Balbuena (FSU) 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 Carla Rosenberg (UI) d. Marina Raic (FSU) 6-2, 6-0
No. 6 Natalia Manasova (UI) d. Ali Weber (FSU) 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-5
DOUBLES
No. 1 Duxin/Gallovits (FSU) d. Ferney/Loebnitz (UI) 8-4
No. 2 Asberg/Raic (FSU) vs. Kung/Webb (UI) 5-6, suspended
No. 3 Balbuena/Weber (FSU) d. Manasova/Rosenberg (UI) 8-3