Florida’s women’s tennis team compiled 25 wins, a Southeastern Conference regular-season championship and an SEC Tournament trophy before hosting an NCAA Regional last weekend.
But an NCAA Regional was uncharted territory for half the team.
Florida’s normal singles lineup includes three players — Allie Will, Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather — who have vivid memories of last year’s deep run to the NCAA Tournament final. But the other half of the lineup features three heralded freshmen who, despite having success all year, had never played in an NCAA Tournament.
With the help of freshmen Olivia Janowicz, Sofie Oyen and Alex Cercone, the Gators dominated the first two rounds of the tournament at Linder Stadium over the weekend. On Sunday, Florida blanked South Carolina 4-0, clinching a berth in the Sweet 16 on Friday against Clemson.
Coach Roland Thornqvist gave a simple answer when asked to evaluate the play of his freshmen in their first NCAA Regional.
“Well, I guess you could say so far, so good,” Thornqvist said.
Mather said her job as the team’s de facto leader hasn’t proved to be difficult this year, saying the trio of rookies came in “determined and willing to work just as hard as anyone else has worked on this team.”
That driving focus was on display during regionals as Janowicz shined with Mather in doubles, clinching the point for UF in both rounds.
“They’ve gotten better. They’ve improved and matured. They can handle the momentum shifts better now than they could earlier in the season,” Thornqvist said. “And they’re going to need to if we’re going to do anything in this event... We’re not going to be able to reach our goals if our freshmen don’t help us out.”
