CAREER NOTES: Career-high ITA singles ranking: 19 (Sept. 10, 2002)... Career-high ITA doubles ranking: 10 (Feb. 26, 2003 with Lindsay Dawaf) ... spent her first two years playing at the University of North Carolina, where she was recruited to by current Gator head coach Roland Thornqvist ... signed scholarship papers to attend the University of Florida on July 3, 2002.
AS A JUNIOR (2002-03)
Awards: Earned bid to play in the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships ... First Team All-SEC in doubles (No. 2 position with Alexis Gordon)
Singles: Final ITA National Rank:31; Season-high ITA Rank: 19 (Sept. 10); Final ITA South Region Rank: 6; Primary Dual Match Positions: Nos. 2, 3 & 4
Spring: Her emotional 6-0, 7-5 victory over Stanford's 16th-ranked Lauren Barnikow provided the clinching team championship point in UF's 4-3 win over the Cardinal in the NCAA Final ... in the title clinching match, Rotondi was receiving down 5-4 in the second set before staging a comeback ... posted a 24-3 record in dual match action, including a 7-1 mark at No. 2, a 5-1 record at no. 3 and an 11-1 mark at the No. 4 spot ... 7-0 record in clinching matches ... needed 58 minutes to defeat Ole Miss' Karem Harboe 6-1, 6-1 in her SEC Tournament debut at the No. 2 position ... played the No. 1 position for second time in her career and for the first time as a Gator, defeating Mississippi State's Magdolna Rekasi 6-1, 6-1 on March 2 ... had a 10-match winning streak, during which she defeated three ranked opponents, from Feb. 8 to March 14... strained her knee during the 7-5, 6-4 loss to Vanderbilt's Aleke Tsoubanos (March 16), as UF lost 4-3 ... helped UF reach the finals of the National Team Indoor Championships by posting a 3-1 record, including a 6-3, 7-5 win over Duke's No. 65 Julia Smith in the final (Feb. 9).
Fall: Earned an at-large bid into the main draw of the Omni Hotels National Indoor Championships Nov. 8, where she lost to Tulane's Julie Smekodub 6-3, 6-4 in first round before winning a pair of matches in the consolation draw, which included a 6-1, 7-5 (3) victory over No. 18 Raquel Kops-Jones (California) ... Advanced to the quarterfinals of the Omni Hotels South Regional Oct. 27, where she lost to teammate Julia Scaringe 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 ... After losing to Tennessee's No.1 Vilmarie Castellvi in the first round of the Riviera All-American Championships Oct. 10, raced through the consolation draw to capture the title with victories against No. 10 Sarah Riske (Vanderbilt), 6-1, 0-6, 6-3, and No. 89 Sadhaf Pervez (Ohio State), 6-4, 6-3, before defeating Missouri's Urska Juric 7-5, 7-5 in the final.
Doubles: Final ITA National Rank: No. 31 (with Lindsay Dawaf) & No. 41 (with Alexis Gordon); Season-high ITA Rank: 10 (Feb. 26 with Dawaf); Final ITA South Region Rank: 6 (with Dawaf ) & 7 (with Gordon); Primary Dual Match Position: No. 2 (with Gordon)
Spring: Earned a bid into the NCAA Doubles Championships with Lindsay Dawaf despite not playing together since March 16, and was eliminated in the first round by Georgia's No. 2-seeded pair of Agata Cioroch and Lori Grey 6-1 4-6, 6-1 ... Began playing with Alexis Gordon on March 21 against Clemson and paired with her in every dual match to end the year, posting a 12-2 record (10-2 at the No. 2 spot) ... Gordon and Rotondi lost their debut together - an 8-6 decision to Clemson's Alvarex and Lacelarie - before zipping off 12 straight wins, including the 8-1 win over Vanderbilt's 37th-ranked team in the NCAA Quarterfinals ... opened the dual match season with Lindsay Dawaf, playing the No. 1 and No. 2 positions ... lost the final three matches played with Dawaf, including the thrilling 9-7 defeat against Vanderbilt's Riske and Tsoubanso that gave the Commodores the doubles point en route to a 4-3 VU win ... posted a 3-1 record with Dawaf at the National Team Indoors, with the lone loss a tough 9-7 decision in the final to Duke's 11th-ranked DeRoo and Johnson that gave the Blue Devils the doubles point en route to Duke's 4-3 win.
Fall: Went 8-4 playing all matches with Lindsay Dawaf ... Reached the quarterfinals of the Omni Hotels National Indoor championships Nov. 8, falling to Missouri's Juric and Sevcikova 9-8 (7) ... Stormed through the 64-team qualifying draw at the Riviera All-American Championships, but lost to Arizona State's No. 3 pair of A. Engel and D. Krstulovic 8-6 in the main draw Round of 16 Oct. 10 ... Advanced to the semifinals of the Riviera All-American Championships consolation draw with a 8-5 win against No. 12 Hedberg and Roland (Texas A&M) before falling to Duke's No. 9 pair of Hillary Adams and Kelly McCain 8-5 Oct. 12 ... Captured the Adidas Invitational title in her first tournament as a Gator, defeating Duke's No. 18 pair of Julie DeRoo and Amanda Johnson 8-6 in the final Sept. 29 after downing Tennessee's No. 23 pair Castellvi and Schaub 8-5 in the semifinal.
Summer of 2002: Paired with former Gator Jessica Lehnhoff and won the Corina Morariu Classic $10,000 professional doubles title ... during the summer of 2002, defeated NCAA preseason-No. 1 Vilmarie Castellvi from Tennessee in a 10K event in Baltimore ... reached the quarterfinals of a 10K event Harrisonburg, Va., while winning the doubles title with former Notre Dame star Michelle Dasso.
AS A SOPHOMORE (2001-02)
at Univ. of North Carolina
Awards: All-Atlantic Coast Conference
Singles: Final & Season-High ITA National Rank: 28
Spring: Instrumental in guiding the Tar Heels advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Championships, where they lost to eventual champion Stanford 4-1 ... advanced to the second round of the NCAA Singles Championship, losing to Stanford's Erin Burdette 7-5, 6-2 ... posted a 19-2 dual match record at the No. 3 position in 2002, helping UNC post a school-best 25-5 record and finish ranked a program-high fifth in the final ITA rankings ... sported a 20-match win streak during the season ... defeated Duke's Julie DeRoo 6-3, 6-2 in the finals of the ACC Tournament, which led to UNC's 4-3 win and its first-ever conference tournament title ... won all four dual matches in NCAA team play in straight sets, dropping a combined total of six games.
Fall: Advanced to the quarterfinals of the Omni Hotels Southeast Region Championships, which included a 6-3, 6-3 win over Kentucky's Lauren Rookledge, before falling to her Wildcat teammate Sarah Witten 7-6, 7-6 ... reached the Round of 16 at the 2001 Riviera All-American Championships with her run ending to Stanford's 11th-ranked Erin Burdette 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.
Doubles: Final ITA National Rank: none; Season-high ITA Rank: 18 (preseason with Marlene Mejia)
Spring: Played the first half of the dual match season with Kate Pinchbeck, posting a 7-5 record together at the numbers 1 and 2 positions ... teamed with Marlene Mejia for the last half of the season and logged a 7-9 record at the number 1 spot ... dropped a heartbreaking 9-7 decision in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Team Championships - which would have secured the doubles point - to Stanford's Lauren Kalvaria and Gabriela Lastra, who went on to win the NCAA Doubles titles one week later.
Fall: Paired with Mejia to reached the quarterfinals of the Riviera All-American Championships, losing to Duke's Amanda Johnson and Susie Abromeit 8-2.
AS A FRESHMAN (2000-01)
at Univ. of North Carolina
Awards: All-Atlantic Coast Conference
Singles: Final ITA National Rank: 51; Season-high ITA National Rank: 35 (Feb. 12, 2001)
Spring: Competed primarily at the No. 2 singles position, posting an 8-5 record in dual match play ... also went 2-0 at the No. 3 spot ... won her NCAA Tournament dual match debut, a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Iowa's Deni Alexandrova in the first round.
Fall: Posted a 17-7 record in individual tournament play, highlighted by a quarterfinal appearance in the ITA Indoor Championships.
Doubles: Final ITA National Rank: 47 (with Marlene Mejia); Season-high ITA Rank: 18 (Feb. 23, 2001 with Mejia)
Spring: Logged a 12-5 dual match record, partnering predominantly at the No. 2 position with Mejia, where the duo went 9-3 at that spot, with a 3-1 mark at the No. 1 position.
Fall: Reached the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor Championships with Majia, falling to Tennessee's Vilmarie Castellvi and Allison Ojeda 8-3 ... 6-3 record in individual tournament action, playing with Majia and Elina Bairos.
Prior to Florida
Julie Rotondi earned her high school diploma from Thayer Academy in 2000 ... coached by Steve Goldman and Mike Daly ... trained at the Weymouth Club ... ranked No. 6 in the USTA 18s singles rankings... No. 1-ranked player in New England for five consecutive years ... finished fifth in singles and claimed second in doubles at the 1999 National Clay Court Championships ... received the New England/USTA William Hobitzelle Sportsmanship Award in 1997 and 1999 ... placed fourth at the 1999 Easter Bowl ... competed at the 1999 U.S. Open Juniors event, reaching the second round of doubles ... member of the U.S. National Team for juniors from 1998-1999 ... also a standout basketball player, starting all four years for Thayer's varsity team and was named the New England Class A Most Valuable Player of the 1998 playoffs and was a three-time New England All-Star ... was invited to represent the USA with the USTA team in Uruguay and Paraguay, but declined the offer because she "refused to miss the basketball playoffs."
