The
second-ranked Florida women’s tennis team earned a hard-fought and
weather-shortened 5-0 victory against fifth-ranked Duke Wednesday afternoon at
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
It
was the stiffest test of the season for the Gator’s home win streak, which grew
to 102 consecutive victories thanks in part to Florida’s quick start on the
doubles courts where the squad won all three matches and earned the first point
of the dual match. The Gators earned singles wins on courts numbers two, three,
four and six before lightening was detected within a five-mile radium of the
tennis complex that forced the stoppage of play on the remaining two courts.
Due to Duke’s travel schedule and the weather outlook for the next couple of
hours in Gainesville, play on courts one and five were abandoned.
Junior
All-American Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.), who was involved in the
first doubles win of the day, won the first 10 games against Hanna Mar en route
to a dominating 6-0, 6-2 victory on court two.
Junior
Caroline Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) was next off the court when she
posted a convincing 6-1, 6-0 win against Monica Turewicz and gave Florida a 3-0
lead in the team scoring. It was Hitimana’s ninth consecutive singles victory,
as well as her 16th straight singles win in dual match competition.
Senior
Joanna Mather (Duluth, Ga.) provided the clinching dual match victory
with a 6-3, 6-1 decision against Ester Goldfeld on court three. The first set
featured several duce games and three service breaks midway through the frame,
as Goldfeld broke and inched closer to getting the set back on-serve with
Mather leading 3-2. The Gator’s lone senior, however, broke right back in the
sixth game and both competitors held thru the set with Mather claiming it 6-3.
She then raced out to a 4-0 lead before Goldfeld held serve, but Mather
continued her momentum and won the final two games for the straight-set
victory.
Sofie
Oyen
(Leopoldsburg, Belgium) tacked on another team point after she regrouped from
dropping the first set to earn a 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 victory against Mary Clayton on
court four. The win was the Gator sophomore’s team-leading 14th consecutive, as
she improved to 18-2 overall and 11-0 in dual match action.
“We
played great,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I thought we
played excellent tennis on all six courts. It was great tennis out there. We
were tough. We were running. We were defending well. We’re tough to beat when
we play like this. Today we saw real Gator tennis.”
