Two top-five matchups went different ways for the Florida men's and women's tennis teams.
On a weekend where both Gators tennis teams were on the road facing highly-ranked opponents, the No. 1 women remained unbeaten, while the No. 5 men were defeated handily.
One week after qualifying for the ITA Indoor Nationals, the Florida men's squad traveled to Charlottesville, Va., for a dual match against No. 2 Virginia (3-1). The Cavaliers defeated the Gators 6-1, but coach Andy Jackson saw the loss as an opportunity to grow.
“They were too good for us today. They beat us up pretty good,” Jackson said. “We didn't think we played poorly, we just didn't play good enough to hang with the level that they produce.”
The lone victories of the afternoon both involved junior Frank Carleton. His doubles victory with Spencer Newman and singles victory over Virginia’s Alex Domijan were Florida’s (3-1) only visible bright spots. The Wake Forest transfer's 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Domijan — who has been ranked as high as No. 1 in the nation — kept his undefeated record intact.
The Cavaliers, who haven’t lost at home in five years and are the four-time defending team indoor national champions, dominated the Gators. Three matches went into three sets, but only Carleton’s resulted in victory for Florida.
“As long as we don't overreact to getting hammered and read too much into it, I think it'll help us,” Jackson said of the match.
Facing No. 5 Baylor (9-1) in Waco, Tx., the UF women’s team (3-0) saw five of its six singles matches go three sets, the first time they had played a full third set this year. After securing the doubles point by winning two of the three matches, the Gators won four of the six singles matches to get a big road win.
“We showed a lot of class to be able to come in here and beat a really, really good Baylor team,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “This is a Final Four-caliber team we played. I was very encouraged by the way we were able to compete at the end.”
The match also saw the women drop their first two points of the year. Senior Joanna Mather and junior Lauren Embree both lost their matches in three sets. Embree, who started the year winning all four of her sets in singles, took the first set from Nina Secerbegovic 6-3 before the Bears’ senior took the final two sets 4-6, 5-7. Still, Thornqvist was happy with the result.
“Perhaps it wasn’t the greatest of tennis but we showed a lot of heart,” he said.
