For Florida, Wednesday afternoon brought a new beginning, a milestone, and more of the dominance to which the team has become accustomed.
The No. 1 Gators (1-0) defeated Troy (0-3) in a clean sweep, 7-0. Florida shook off some rust and looked sharp against the overmatched Trojans. The victory marked the 250th of coach Roland Thornqvist’s Florida career. The coach downplayed his achievement and instead focused on the many positives from the match.
“I thought we played well,” Thornqvist said. “Obviously, that’s more important than any of the numbers. We’ve become a better ball-striking game, and I think today the girls struck the ball very, very well. Sharp on all the courts, really.”
The Gators opened the afternoon by winning all three doubles matches. While the No. 10 team of Allie Will and Sofie Oyen received some resistance on Court 1, Florida’s other two pairings did not lose a single game.
The teams of Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather, and Alex Cercone and Olivia Janowicz both defeated their opponents 8-0. Will and Oyen finished off their opponents 8-3 after a slow start.
“We had to get used to each other, because we hadn’t played together for a couple months. We practiced just once,” Oyen said. “So the beginning was a little difficult.”
After securing the doubles point, the Gators carried their momentum into singles. Florida came out with a slightly different lineup, one without one of their top singles players.
With No. 4 Joanna Mather out of the rotation to allow others more playing time, Caroline Hitimana filled in at the No. 6 slot. The junior performed admirably, dispatching Samya El Hsissen, 6-0, 6-1, clinching the match for Florida and continuing a strong start to the spring.
No. 25 Lauren Embree breezed through her match against Troy’s Olfa Dhaoui, 6-0, 6-0 to claim the first singles match of the afternoon. Embree was hardly challenged during the match, and was the first Gator off the court in singles. She was followed by No. 34 Sofie Oyen, who also defeated her opponent in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
Immediately after Hitimana clinched the match, sophomore Olivia Janowicz defeated Candela Munoz Giron, 6-1, 6-2. Each of the Gators won in straight sets, and aside from a few mishits, the match belonged almost entirely to the No. 1 team in the nation.
No. 3 Allie Will defeated Troy’s Karoline Grymel, 6-2, 6-1, while No. 41 Alex Cercone took care of Lyubov Dorofeeva, 6-2, 6-0 to finish the day for Florida.
“We looked sharp at the end, really got better as the match went along,” Thornqvist said.
