The UF women’s tennis team walked into Scott Speicher Tennis Center in Tallahassee on Tuesday boasting a newly acquired No. 1 ranking and a 50-1 all-time record against the Seminoles.
But the Gators hadn’t played a match in a week, and had an overall bad stretch of practice preceding the road test, according to coach Roland Thornqvist.
Despite the time off following a loss to Stanford in the final of the ITA Indoor Championships, Florida (11-1) came out and extended its dominance over Florida State, piecing together a convincing 6-1 win over the No. 22 Seminoles.
The Gators dominated in all facets of play, winning all three doubles matches and five of the singles matches.
The No. 1 team of Allie Will and Sofie Oyen did not take the court for the first time this season, however, as Will instead teamed up with freshman Alex Cercone.
“We have the opportunity to change up the teams when we want,” Thornqvist said. “That’s probably something that we’ll be experimenting with in the next few weeks to gain strengths at different spots.”
The new pair won 8-1 on Court 1 and the doubles point was clinched by Lauren Embree and Caroline Hitimana on Court 2.
“It was extremely important to come out fast in doubles, especially with those new combinations,” Thornqvist said.
“That quieted the crowd right away and they never had a chance to get into it even though they had a lot of people out there.”
Thornqvist said that giving FSU the “brunt of the team” early on was key to rolling through singles play, which was dominated by three Florida freshmen.
Cercone, Oyen, and Olivia Janowicz posted straight-sets wins Tuesday.
