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One of the preseason goals for the No. 2 Florida women's tennis
team was to win the ITA Indoor Championships. Saturday, they took
another big step toward that goal.
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The Gators went 1-2 in the tournament last year, while the team's
most clutch players struggled on a large stage.
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With a 4-0 win over No. 12 Clemson on Saturday in Charlottesville,
Va., Florida (9-0) is only one win away from an appearance in the
title match.
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The Gators, led by the same players who faltered last year, scored
big singles wins from star sophomores Allie Will and Lauren Embree
to give Florida the convincing victory.
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"Allie and Lauren are both playing very well right now," coach
Roland Thornqvist said. "They both have the experience from last
year and we're relying heavily on them right now."
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Will and Embree both continued their undefeated singles records
during the dual match season. Will won her eighth straight match,
while Embree captured her seventh in a row.
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The win was an impressive one for Will, ranked No. 7 in the ITA
singles rankings, as she thrashed No. 14 Josipa Bek in
straight-sets.
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After a mixed start in doubles, the Gators were able to capture the
point when freshman Alex Cercone and Olivia Janowicz rolled on
Court 3.
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Janowicz also dominated in singles, beating Maria Belaya
straight-sets, 6-2, 6-2.
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With the Gators up 3-0 and ready to put the match away, No. 36
Embree pulled out a three-set win over No. 37 Wong.
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Florida’s victory sets up a rematch with No. 6 Duke in the
semifinals on Sunday. The Gators went on the road and beat the Blue
Devils 4-2 last weekend and will be looking to duplicate that
result.
"We'll be looking to use a similar game plan to the one we had last
time," Thornqvist said, "but we're expecting them to give us a good
fight just like they did last week."
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Men’s tennis
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With the No. 11 Florida men's team down 3-1 in a tightly contested
battle with No. 17 Duke in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor
Championships, and Gators needed a spark.
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But in a time of desperation, no Gator could come through for his
team.
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After losing the doubles point to the Blue Devils, UF (6-2) was
only able to get one win on the singles court, as Duke pulled off
the 4-1 upset in Seattle, Wash.
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"We had good intensity, and the match was actually a lot like our
win yesterday in that it was very close," coach Andy Jackson said.
"But they were better than us in those moments of truth, and that's
what cost us today."
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Duke has two of the best singles players in the nation in No. 6
Reid Carleton and No. 10 Henrique Cunha. But a day after beating a
talented Stanford team, the Gators had a shot to win the match.
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Alexandre Lacroix, ranked No. 9 in singles, took care of Cunha in
straight sets, but UF’s No. 43 Sekou Bangoura, Jr. couldn't do the
same against Carleton.
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"Sekou had a 5-2 lead in that first set and he felt like he should
have been able to come away with the win," Jackson said. "That was
one of those moments of truth where we came up short."
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Bangoura lost in straight sets, as did Bob van Overbeek, but the
finishing point came when Andrew Butz dropped a third-set
tiebreaker to Jared Pinsky on Court 5.
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The Gators have had trouble against top teams that are used to
playing indoors. This loss comes just a week after a 4-3 loss at
Illinois and knocks the Gators out of contention for the Indoor
National Championship.
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"We're looking to go back home and improve and hopefully we'll get
another shot at Duke in the NCAAs later this year," Jackson
said.
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Rather than advancing to the semifinals, Florida will be playing a
consolation match Sunday against No. 6 UCLA. It will be the fourth
match in a row against a top opponent for Florida.
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"We want our guys to rebound strong after a tough loss," Jackson
said. "We lost to a good team today but we want to give the Gators
another top-10 win tomorrow."
