The No. 2 Florida women’s tennis team kept its home winning streak alive Sunday afternoon after defeating No. 10 Stanford 4-3 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
The Gators (8-1) were able to put an end to the Cardinal (7-1) undefeated season and take home its 138th straight win in Gainesville.
Coach Roland Thornqvist said the team showed a lot of courage and resilience after a rough start in doubles play against Stanford — he said he thinks the team was able to move past the negative to win the first couple singles sets.
No. 91-ranked freshman Peggy Porter had a straight-set win over Lindsey Kostas, 6-0, 6-2. But three UF athletes -- Brooke Austin, Josie Kuhlman and Brianna Morgan — were forced into third sets.
Austin lost 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, and No. 3-ranked freshman Kuhlman was defeated by the Cardinal’s No. 14-ranked Taylor Davidson (2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (8)).
The UF fans shifted their attention to the No. 3 court, where Morgan clinched the match in the third set, finishing 6-1, 2-6, 6-3.
"It’s a funny sport because we have one kid in (the locker room) feeling down and the other one is feeling on top of the world right now. They’re both phenomenal," Thornqvist said in a release about Kuhlman and Morgan.
In doubles play, the Gators dropped the doubles point for the second time this season. The duo of Spencer Liang and Woolcock won 8-0 to kick off the outing.
The pairing of No. 4-ranked Austin and Keegan had their first doubles loss of the season as the Stanford pairing of No. 5-ranked Taylor Davidson and Carol Zhao downed the Florida duo 8-4.
No. 12-ranked Caroline Doyle and Ellen Tsay defeated Florida’s No. 9 Kuhlman and Porter pairing 8-2.
Florida will transition into Southeastern Conference play this weekend when it hosts the reigning SEC Champion No. 8 Alabama at 5 p.m on Friday and Auburn at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Coach Thornqvist said that with a tough schedule ahead, the team is not putting much emphasis on the winning streak for the upcoming matches.
"The streak is cool to talk about but it’s really not something we’re emphasizing," Thornqvist said.
"It’s there because we play good, disciplined tennis at home. And obviously we have that terrific crowd too. They were remarkable today. They really helped us along."
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Brianna Morgan hits a two-handed backhand during Florida's 4-0 win against Elon on Saturday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
