Meyer consoles Boonstra after championship loss

Florida Gators senior tennis player Marrit Boonstra effectively lost the 2010 NCAA National Championship – that is, unfortunately, a fact. It is also the position she was put in by her teammates, who had tied their final match with the Stanford Cardinal 3-3 with Boonstra left as the only player still on the court.

Nevertheless, neither a single one of her teammates nor any Florida fans nor anyone in the athletic department blamed her for the loss – especially seeing as she took her opponent to the brink before falling 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 in a wild third set.

While Boonstra and her entire team were crushed, so was head football coach Urban Meyer, who was watching on television alongside his family back in Gainesville, FL. Rather than stand idly by as Boonstra wallowed in the outcome, Florida Today reports that he decided to do whatever he could to make her feel better.

“[Meyer called me and] told me he and his family had watched the match and they were all cheering and they were all so proud of me,” Boonstra told the paper. “That call made me feel a lot better. It helped me out a lot.”

That wasn’t all.

Meyer also went out of his way to send her a personal card, applauding her efforts and calling her “special.” “Every coach dreams of having a team of competitors,” Meyer wrote. “Unfortunately, there are not enough like you.”

Boonstra has since returned to her home country of The Netherlands and will do her best to compete internationally as a representative of Holland. She finished her Gators career with a fantastic 77-16 singles record, 60-9 dual match mark and 75-22 doubles record (24-4 this season with freshman Allie Will). Her championship match loss also ended a personal 17-match singles winning streak.

Photo Credit: University of Florida