Top-Seeded Florida Blanks Marist in NCAA Women's Tennis First Round

Top-seeded Florida didn’t show any signs of a 20-day break since winning the Southeastern Conference Tournament title on April 21 during its dominating 4-0 win against Marist in the first round of the NCAA Division I Women’s Tennis Championships played at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Florida advances to the second round and will play No. 23-ranked Georgia Tech (15-9) on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Yellow Jackets earned a thrilling 4-3 win against Yale in their opening round bout.

The Gators didn’t lose a game in any of the completed matches against the Red Foxes (11-8), who were making their fourth appearance in the NCAA Championships.

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UF head coach Roland Thornqvist, Lauren Embree and Alexandra Cercone talk about the win

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Florida earned the doubles point in 40 minutes with its No. 11-ranked pair of Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Sofie Oyen (Leopoldsburg, Belgium) downed Karly Pang and Joana Sun, 8-0, before the rookie tandem of Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Brianna Morgan (Beverly Hills, Calif.) notched an 8-0 decision against Melissa Carlay and Kaye Eastman on court three.

“I thought we did a really good job. I told the team after doubles that I was very pleased with our court positioning inside the service box in our doubles play, said UF head coach Roland Thornqvist, who won the 299th match of his 11-year Gator tenure. “We spent many hours on that over this two week layoff and I thought we really saw the fruits of that labor today. We did a really good job closing and we were able to find their feet almost every time in our volleys.”

The Gators (23-2), who won their 120th consecutive home match, continued their precision on the singles courts, where Alexandra Cercone (Seminole, Fla.), Embree and Morgan each won their matches, 6-0, 6-0, on courts three, one and four, respectively.

Embree’s wins on the singles and doubles courts moved her into sole possession of first on the Gator’s all-time NCAA dual match wins chart, now sporting a 29-2 combine record in postseason team play. Last year’s lone senior Joanna Mather held the record with 28 wins from 2009-12.

“I think the girls were really anxious to start playing again because we have had such a long break so Sofie and I came out really focused in doubles and just excited to play and we just continued that over in singles,” shared Embree, who tallied her 19th consecutive singles win, as well as her 37th straight singles victory in dual match competition. “I think everybody was pretty happy with their play today.”

Cercone’s singles win was her 12th straight victory overall, as she improved to 10-0 all-time in NCAA singles dual matches. The double-bagel decision was the Gator junior’s first this year and the second of her career.

“I think the most challenging part of these types of matches is staying disciplined, staying patient and staying focused,” Cercone shared. “It is difficult to get into a rhythm so that is where the patience and discipline comes in. It is very easy to lose focus when you are up 6-0, 3-0 and you just start watching matches next to you. I think that if you pay attention to those things then these types of matches are much easier.”

Morgan provided the clinching dual match singles win on court four, which was her 25th singles victory of the season, and helped the Gators improve to 15-0 all-time in NCAA round of 64 matches, as well as 42-5 in NCAA home contests.

Embree and fellow senior Caroline Hitimana (Waterloo, Belgium) lead the Gators on Sunday in what will be the final home match of their distinguished careers. The pair has helped Florida compile a 54-0 home record during their four-year tenure in Gainesville and will be aiming to become just the sixth senior class to conclude their dual match careers undefeated at home.