FSU, UF Win Doubles Titles at USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational

UF players left to right: champions Brianna Morgan and Josie Kuhlman, and runners-up Peggy Porter and Spencer Liang

Florida schools were double trouble over the weekend at the USTA Collegiate Clay Court Invitational presented by VISIT FLORIDA, held Nov. 5-8, 2015 at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, as NCAA teams from the Sunshine State won both the men’s and women’s doubles competitions.

Florida State University’s No. 3-seeded Jose Gracia and Marco Nunez, playing together for the first time this season, upended No. 2 seeds Guilherme Hadlich and Gabriel Sidney of Pepperdine 8-4 in the gold bracket doubles final. It was FSU’s second consecutive doubles championship in the event after last year Nunez and Benjamin Lock beat Gracia and Cristian Gonzalez Mendez in the final.

On Saturday Gracia-Nunez ousted top seeds Jeffrey Brown and Alex Gornet of Louisville 8-4 to reach the Sunday final.

FSU’s Marco Nunez and Jose Gracia

In the all-University of Florida women’s gold bracket final, unseeded Josie Kuhlman and Brianna Morgan defeated the No. 55-ranked duo of Spencer Liang and Peggy Porter 8-7 for the title.

The semifinals saw Kuhlman-Morgan defeat Clemson’s Fernanda Navarro and Ruiz Alvarez 8-4, and Liang-Porter top Virginia Tech’s Raluca Mita and Kelly Willford 8-4.

In singles Kuhlman and Morgan both lost in the semifinals, with the No. 1-seeded Kuhlman falling to Martina Frantova of N.C. State 6-3, 6-4, and the No. 24-ranked Morgan defeated by Virginia Tech’s Illinca Stoica, 3-6, 6-3, 6-0.

Men’s and women’s schools represented at the event included FSU, UF, Baylor, UCF, Clemson, Florida Gulf Coast, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Miami, Michigan, North Florida, Notre Dame, Penn State, Pepperdine, Kansas State, Louisiana Tech, N.C. State, Old Dominion, South Alabama, South Carolina, Stetson, Syracuse, Virginia Tech, TCU, BYU, Columbia, Youngstown State, and Troy.

“We always look forward to hosting this premier event with so many great schools and programs competing,” Florida State head coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “We were excited to have ESPN3 covering our matches again this year, and continue to see the tournament grow into a nationally-recognized event.”

For full draws and more info go to http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=179357#&&s=0.