The No. 6 Florida women’s tennis team finished the regular-season strong, clinching the regular-season Southeastern Conference title on Sunday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
The Gators swept the Tennessee Volunteers with a 4-0 victory to extend the all-time series record to 42-0.
The match, Florida’s final home match, would have typically been celebrated as Senior Day, but UF does not have a senior this season.
Last season, the Gators also swept the Volunteers with a final score of 7-0.
Coach Roland Thornqvist said the team has phenomenal chemistry and the freshman class has been able to transition right in.
"They’re fantastic players and they’re great teammates," Thornqvist said in a release.
"That part of it has been really, really fun to be around. This team genuinely really enjoys one another and you can sense that when they play and you certainly can sense that when we travel too. ... It’s an easy group to travel with. They’re low maintenance. Everyone is keen on helping one another."
The Gators added the early tally after clinching the doubles point at Sunday’s outing.
The Florida duo of Spencer Liang and Peggy Porter defeated Tennessee’s pairing of Victoria Olivarez and Tiffany Tavares, 8-4.
UF’s pairing of Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock topped their Volunteers opponents, Eve Repic and Laurence Guevrement, 8-6.
In singles play, No. 5 freshman Brooke Austin downed Joanna Henderson, 6-1, 6-1 putting the Gators up 2-0.
Austin’s win in singles on Sunday boosted her SEC singles record to 10-2.
Kourtney Keegan defeated Olivarez, 6-3, 6-0 just a minute after Austin’s victory.
Florida sophomore and Australian native Belinda Woolcock clinched the match after defeating Laurence Guevrement, 6-1, 6-0.
"It was really exciting," Woolcock said in a release.
"I think this week we’ve trained really, really hard and ever since we lost against Vanderbilt last weekend we’ve just been extra competitive and hungry. It was really exciting for me to be able to win it for the team today."
The Gators begin their postseason journey at the SEC Tournament in Columbia, South Carolina.
Top-seed Florida earned a two-round bye and plays its first game on Friday, facing the winner of Thursday’s match between No. 8 seed Kentucky and ninth-seeded Ole Miss.
"Now it’s a new season," Thornqvist said.
"We have new roles now and the way they’ve conducted themselves and the way we’ve improved throughout the regular season gives us great hope now for postseason play."
Follow Eneisy Rodriguez on Twitter @eneisyr29
Kourtney Keegan swings at the ball on Oct. 11,2013 at the Bedford Cup at the Ring Tennis Complex.
