The top-ranked Florida Women’s Tennis team is using the next two weeks to prepare for their most challenging opponent yet, and this time it won’t be on their court.
Junior Alexandra Cercone said third-ranked Duke will be a challenging team to face, especially for the freshmen.
“Dealing with [Duke’s] crowd is really difficult,” Cercone said.
“They always get a lot of people to come out, and they’re really loud. It’s their [the freshmen’s] first away match, so it will be an eye opener for them.”
Head coach Roland Thornqvist added: “The key is to keep our composure. If we do that, we won’t give them any ammunition to keep going.”
Thornqvist said that another potential challenge facing Duke is the possibility of playing an indoor match due to rainy weather.
“We have a team with some big hitters this year,” Thornqvist said. “I think we can, with some practice, translate our play to indoors and get better at it.”
Thornqvist said he looks to the seniors to lead and set the standard during practices.
Senior Caroline Hitimana said the team’s goal this week is to get their bodies in shape and to keep up pace for challenging matches.
“We need to stay focused more than anything and bring our best game to them [Duke],” Hitimana said.
The last time the Gators faced Duke was in the 2012 NCAA Tournament, where Cercone clinched the deciding match point after three hours and 14 minutes to give Florida a 4-3 victory and a chance to earn the national championship.
Thornqvist said the sets are always longer facing Duke.
“We have to be able to play at 4-all, 5-all at several spots during the match and keep focus in longer sets,” Thornqvist said.
Despite Duke’s home advantage this time around, Cercone said that away matches are when the team bonds the most, and that it helps them handle the pressure come match time.
“The jokes that we share when we’re traveling, and just so many funny things happen when we’re away,” Cercone said. “It’s just the little silly things that make it all worth while.”
Alexandra Cercone returns a volley. Cercone propelled Florida to a 7-0 victory against South Carolina on Saturday.
