All season long, coach Roland Thornqvist has been stressing the importance of his players seeing real action on the court to get match tough.
During the first day of the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional Championships, the Gators’ swept all six of their singles matches and went a perfect 4-0 in doubles play to prove Florida is well on its way to getting there.
“This is exactly what we need,” Thornqvist said. “We need all of them to play a lot of matches. We’ve been practicing and drilling, but playing is different than hitting. The only way you can get comfortable is to play matches. I was pleased for the first day.”
Friday’s action at the Ring Tennis Complex both began and ended with doubles wins for the Gators. Sophomore Olivia Janowicz paired up with junior Caroline Hitimana to take the opening match, while Sofie Oyen with fellow sophomore Alex Cercone cruised to an 8-2 victory later in the day.
Success in these pairings is exactly what Thornqvist wants to see.
Although Oyen already received an automatic bid to the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships with senior Allie Will – her partner from this year’s previous grand slam – Thornqvist is set on using the fall to figure out all possible doubles lineups he can use this spring.
“We, traditionally or historically if you look at my 10 years at Florida, have had to change doubles pairings at some point every single year,” Thornqvist said. “Therefore, I told them this year they’re going to have to play with multiple partners in the fall. That way we get more data and more feedback from who you can play with and who you may not be able to.”
Oyen and Cercone in particular impressed Thornqvist with their creativity and similar playing styles.
“They both like to poach, like to move and like to do things on the court,” Thornqvist said. “They seemed to be communicating very well. …They’re going to be tough to beat here.”
Top-seeded Lauren Embree led Florida with her 6-0, 6-4 defeat of Georgia State’s Masa Gragan in singles play, but it was Hitimana that led the Gators in time on the court.
Hitimana, a Waterloo, Belgium, native, battled for a 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-1 victory in a match that lasted more than three-and-a-half hours sandwiched in between her two doubles matches.
“The player Caroline played is one of those South American players who like to roll it and slice and change speeds and tempos, and you have to have legs under you in order to beat a player like that,” Thornqvist said. “Caroline looked very good in the third set. That’s a good sign.”
All six Gators will be playing until they lose from this point forward. Saturday’s doubles quarterfinal round begins at 9 a.m. and will be followed by back-to-back rounds of singles.
