The Gators have been dominant when playing Southeastern Conference opponents this season, and Friday was no exception.
No. 3 Florida (12-2, 4-0 SEC) secured its fourth consecutive sweep late Friday afternoon, beating No. 49 Tennessee (4-8, 0-4 SEC) 7-0.
Freshman Kourtney Keegan won her doubles match and captured the first point in singles play to earn Florida its fourth straight conference win.
“[Kourtney] was a highlight for us, without a doubt,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “From the first point in doubles you could see that she was taking command playing indoors. I was really happy to see that she followed through and played just as aggressively. That’s key for her, to stay on the offense. She’s very, very powerful.”
The duo of Keegan and Olivia Janowicz won the first doubles match 8-1, followed by a victory on Court 1 from Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock.
After taking a one-point lead, Florida didn’t let up. Each player won in straight sets to complete the team’s 10th sweep of the season.
Keegan began singles play with a commanding 6-0, 6-1 win. Soon after, the seniors put the match out of reach as No. 8 singles player Janowicz won 6-2, 6-2, and Oyen won 6-4, 6-4 to clinch the victory.
The remaining three matches were played to completion as Brianna Morgan, Woolcock and Alexandra Cercone won in that order to close out the sweep.
“I told the team after the match that I thought we did a great job at the end of sets," Thornqvist said. The sets that went to 4-all, I thought we were excellent in playing smart. We put the ball where it needed to be in our opponent’s weaknesses and that was a big part in contributing to us not losing a set."
Florida’s next match is against No. 11 Georgia, who also boasts an undefeated record in SEC play. The Gators will look to keep their perfect conference record intact when they travel to Athens, Ga., on Sunday.
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
