With
over 1,000 fans on hand to start and through one weather delay and change of
venue, the 4th-ranked Florida women’s tennis team defeated 13th-ranked
Stanford, 4-2 at the Ring Tennis Complex Sunday afternoon.
The
match, which was part of the first ever USTA College Match Day, brought to the
courts a sold-out, standing room only crowd of 1,033, which was the 2nd-largest
in program history and saw a great come from behind victory for the Gators
(6-1) in handing Stanford (4-2) its second loss of the year.
The
win also extends Florida’s overall home winning streak to 112 straight matches
and 117 regular-season home matches.
“We
talked beforehand that we kind of knew it was going to be the classic
Stanford-Florida battle,” Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “It
was going to be a lot of points, long games, long sets, grueling and we knew
that if we could make it that, that was going to give us the best chance to
win, and I think after losing the doubles point where Stanford played well, we
were a little tentative maybe. I think we regrouped really well and found a
nice rhythm in singles to make points long, and obviously we had some
spectacular play at two because the kid at two (Kristie Ahn) for Stanford is
world-class. That kid has played center court U.S. Open, and so for Sofie
(Oyen) to get off the court quick, for Olivia (Janowicz) to get off quick, that
really set the tone for us, but it’s a team of warriors. We work hard, we run
and at the end of the matches, you have to be able to use your legs when it’s
hard to hit the corners. Today was a great example of that.”
Stanford
took the air out of the raucous crowd early after winning the doubles point
with wins at the top two courts, but Florida was able to stay at their
opponent’s heels all day, winning on two of the first three singles courts to
go final. With three singles matches remaining and either team only needing two
more points, all matches were sent to a deciding third set; that was when
Florida’s freshman Brianna Morgan (Beverly Hills, Calif.) and junior Alexandra
Cercone (Seminole, Fla.) took over and won it for the Gators.
After
dropping the first set to Stanford’s Krista Hardebeck, who is ranked 10th
in the nation, 6-4, Cercone battled back to win the final two sets, 6-4, 6-3. The
match, which was finishing up over three hours after it began because of a rain
delay and a move of location into the brand-new indoor facility, saw multiple
deuce points and long rallies. With the fans that did make it indoors, Cercone
was able to dig down and give UF its third team point of the day. The win also
keeps Cercone perfect on the year in singles at 4-0.
“Roland
came into the locker room and asked us if we wanted to go inside,” Cercone
said. So he and the Stanford coach could deliberate on what they wanted
to do. We told him that we wouldn’t be upset if we went indoors because we’ve
had experience practicing in there and Stanford hasn’t, so we figured maybe
that could be like a one-up.”
After
Cercone’s win at court three, senior Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.)
and Morgan were involved in the only two matches left and both were in deciding
third sets. Embree’s match with Nicole Gibbs was featuring long games and long
points, while Morgan’s match was moving much faster as she neared the clinching
sixth game-winner.
Morgan
had an early advantage after winning the first frame, 6-4, but was taken to a
third set after dropping the second, 6-3 to the Cardinal’s Stacy Tan. With the
match tied at 2-all, it seemed as if whoever broke the first serve would have
the upper hand. Sure enough, Morgan was able to break Tan’s serve for a 3-2
lead and then hold in the next game to move ahead 4-2. Tan did return the favor
to hold her serve in the next game to pull within 4-3, but Morgan stayed ahead
and then broke Tan one more time after a couple of deuce points to give Florida
the 4-2 win. The final line for Morgan and Tan’s match ended up 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
in favor of Morgan.
“I
think definitely after the first set and in the first game of the third set, I
mentally wasn’t there,” Morgan said. And so in the third set I tried really
forget about everything that had happened and kind of hitting the reset button
mentally. That was what helped me.”
“That
was some serious tennis,” Thornqvist said. “Two great athletes that both hit
the ball world class, and it says a lot about an athlete, I think, to have the
lead, lose the lead and then act like nothing happened and then be able to
break for us to win this match.”
Not
to be overlooked, the Gators were able to get quick wins from juniors Sofie
Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belguim) and Olivia Janowicz (Palm Bay, Fla.) at
courts two and six, which allowed UF to make up the ground lost in doubles
play. Janowicz was the first off the court after defeating Lindsey Kostas, 6-2,
6-2, for her sixth win of the year. Barely eight minutes later, Oyen was off
the court also after dispatching Kristie Ahn, 6-2, 6-2, to move to 5-2 in
singles this year.
