The last time Florida faced Vanderbilt, the Commodores had won 14 of its previous 15 matches and had a comfortable lead atop the Southeastern Conference standings.
In that April 11 match, the Gators swept their SEC foe without much trouble, winning 4-0.
But even with a win under its belt, No. 8-seed Florida (21-5) won’t be taking No. 9-seed Vanderbilt (21-6) lightly when the two square off in the NCAA Round of 16 today at 4 p.m.
“It was a really tough match,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “The score did not reflect the level of competitiveness in the match.”
Against the Commodores, the Gators won all three singles matches in straight sets but were forced into tiebreaks in two of the three doubles matches.
“They are very good in doubles, we barely got the doubles point last time on them,” Thornqvist said. “I think just as it was then, the doubles point will be very, very critical (today).”
After an entire season in which the doubles pairings remained fairly consistent, Thornqvist was forced to break up his star duo of Olivia Janowicz and Kourtney Keegan due to Janowicz’s injury.
The move worked in the tournament’s first match as Brianna Morgan and Janowicz paired up on Court 3 to win the doubles point.
But in its next match against Oklahoma State, Florida dropped the doubles point for just the seventh time this season.
“Our first match against (South Carolina State) was very, very good I thought,” Thornqvist said. “We moved a lot and we communicated well. Our (Court) 1 doubles against Oklahoma State was very good, but (Courts) 2 and 3 left a little bit to be desired.”
The lack of chemistry between Janowicz and Morgan was apparent in that match as they lost 8-4.
If Florida has any hopes of advancing past Vanderbilt, it must go through one of the SEC’s best doubles tandems — No. 20 duo Courtney Colton and Lauren Mira.
Despite the abrupt change in his team’s pairings, Thornqvist is confident in the maturity and versatility of his players.
“We have a very even team so I think some of these players you could play three different spots really, and they’re very unselfish,” he said. “It was really just some of the fundamentals- making first serves and making returns. If we can address that [today] then I think we’ll play a lot better.”
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Olivia Janowicz swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
