The
University of Florida women’s tennis team improved its remarkable home record
against Southeastern Conference teams to 180-1 all-time after Friday evening’s
hard-fought 4-1 victory against No. 12 Georgia at Linder Stadium at the Ring
Tennis Complex.
The
fourth-ranked Gators, who have won their last 72 matches at the Ring Tennis Complex
versus league opponents, also extended their overall home win streak to 114,
the longest active home winning streak by any NCAA Division I women’s team in
any sport.
The
victory didn’t come easy for Florida (10-2, 3-1 SEC), which dropped the doubles
point for the fifth time this season, as Georgia (10-2, 3-1 SEC) took the quick
1-0 lead in the team scoring.
“This
was a tremendous win. We showed a lot of character playing the Florida Way of
getting things done,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I thought
we were resilient in singles. We had high ball tolerance, we were fit and we
moved well.
“Georgia
is really good in doubles,” Thornqvist continued. “We’re still trying to figure
out what we’re going to do personnel-wise. I’m starting to see some
improvement. We’re getting better in the service box and we’ll watch the film
on this. Little things here and there are we can get better. We knew doubles
was going to be challenging against Georgia and we talked about that before the
match. We showed great resiliency today.”
The
Gators won the first set on five of the six courts and seemed to have the early
momentum.
Senior
Caroline Hitimana gave Florida its first point of the dual match, as she
earned a 6-3, 6-1 win against Mia King on court six in 68 minutes. Hitimana,
who was dominate throughout, raced out to a 4-0 lead and was never really
threated, as she won the last seven games to capture her 29th consecutive dual
match singles victory.
Junior
Olivia Janowicz provided the Gators with a 2-1 lead in the dual match
after she downed Makenzie Craft, 6-4, 6-3 on court five and improved to 23-6 on
the singles court this year. Janowicz found herself receiving down 4-2 in the
first set before digging deep and winning the four straight games to earn the
first set. The second set was on serve through six games before Janowciz got
the first break of the frame for the 4-3 lead. She then held for a 5-3
advantage and fought off three game-points to capitalize on her first match-point,
one hour and 28 minutes into singles play.
“Caroline
getting off the court quick really helped to tie the score at 1-all and then
not long afterwards having Olivia get off the court with a win,” Thornqvist
shared. “Getting those early wins was huge for our players involved in the
other singles matches.”
Sofie
Oyen
was the next off the court and the Gator junior won the intense battle over
Silvia Garcia, 7-5, 7-5 on court two in two hours and two minutes. After
winning the first set thanks to a break in the eighth game, Oyen was on the
receiving end, down 4-3 and then 5-4 in the second, but broke both times, even
staving off a pair of set points in the 10th game, before holding to take a 6-5
lead. Oyen then jumped on Garcia’s serve and held double-match point, winning
on her second and gave Florida a 3-1 lead.
“The
remaining matches were three-setters and we’ve shown, time and time again that
we’re pretty tough in three-setters,” Thornqvist said. “When we get to that
point I feel pretty good.”
All-American
and No. 1-ranked Lauren Embree provided the dual-match clinching
heroics, as she won the featured match on court one against No. 7 Lauren
Herring, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, in two hours and 36 minutes. After dropping a tough
10th and final game of the second set that forced a third, Embree came out
determined and held at love and then broke Herring for the 2-0 lead. She earned
her second break of the set in the sixth game and lost one point on her next
serve for the 5-2 lead en route to her 28th consecutive dual match singles win
as well as her 10th straight overall. Embree, who improved to 33-0 all-time in
SEC dual match singles play.
Georgia
seemed to be close to taking a 2-0 lead, as No. 17 Maho Kowase was dominating
Florida’s No. 55 Alexandra Cercone on court three where Kowase won the first
set 6-1 and held a 4-1 lead with the serve in the second set. Somehow, Cercone
battled her way back in the match, as she earned a break and held for 4-3 down.
She then held double-break point in the eighth game and eventually won on a
20-plus rally on her second try and evened the set at 4-all. On her next serve
she fought off two break points and held for the 5-4 lead, before Kowase held
and the set was even at 5-all as the frame made its way into a tiebreak that
Cercone claimed 7-4. The Gator junior then broke to begin the third set, taking
her first lead of the entire match.
“Alex’s
fight was incredible, I don’t know how she did it,” Thornqvist said. “While she
didn’t get a chance to finish her match, it was almost like a win because she
was able to keep battling and made Georgia work for a win. That was huge for
us. What seemed like they might go up 2-0, never happened and that took
pressure off everyone else.”
Florida
freshman Brianna Morgan continued her impressive rookie season, as she was
leading her match on court four against Kate Fuller, 6-4, 6-7 (4), 4-0, when
play was abandoned.
Florida
lost the doubles point for the fifth time this season, as Georgia’s
third-ranked pair of Silvia Garcia and Kate Fuller jumped out early against
Alexandra Cercone and Sofie Oyen on court one, where the Bulldogs took an early
break for a 3-1 lead. The Gators got the break back in the seventh game, but
Cercone couldn’t hold and Florida trailed 6-3 after Garcia held. The teams each
held in the respective next games, but Georgia got one final break for the 8-4
win.
One
minute later the Bulldogs clinched the important doubles point when Lilly
Kimbell and Makenzie Craft also got the final break over Caroline Hitimana and
Olivia Janowicz to win the match 8-5. Georgia dominated the match early, losing
just four combined points in the first four games for a 4-0 lead. Janowicz
finally held and got the Gators on the board before then the Gators capitalized
on their third break point and then Hitimana held, as Florida trailed just 4-3,
down one break. The Gator tandem, however, couldn’t overcome its early hole, as
Kimbell held and the final five games were breaks.
Florida’s
Lauren Embree and Brianna Morgan were leading their match on court two, 7-3,
when play was abandoned.
Florida
returns to action on Saturday, when the Gators play host to No. 25 Tennessee
beginning at 1 p.m. Admission is free and the first 300 fans will receive a
Florida Tennis clover-shaped stress ball.
