When the Florida women’s tennis team plays Ole Miss today, it will have its hands full.
Not only is it playing in one of the toughest environments in the Southeastern Conference, but it is also going up against one of its toughest opponents.
The No. 13 Gators (9-2, 4-0 SEC) travel to Oxford, Mississippi, to take on the Rebels (8-3, 1-3 SEC) at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Complex at 4 p.m. Florida leads the all-time series 43-3.
"They play well at home also, and the court set-up is really tricky," coach Roland Thornqvist said. "Since they are right on top of us, our players have to have tough skin, clearly."
Last time these two teams met, the Gators took a 5-2 win after securing a doubles point that went to two tie-breakers.
This season, the Gators have been superb in doubles play.
In 11 games, Florida has won the doubles points 10 times.
its only loss came on Thursday against then-No. 19 Kentucky in a dual match that saw Florida sweep all six singles matches.
Today’s match will feature a bounty of ranked contests on both sides.
In doubles, Ole Miss has one ranked pairing in No. 27 Arianne Hartono and Mai El Kamash.
The Gators, on the other hand, have four.
Led by No. 49 Hartono in singles, Ole Miss also features four other ranked players in No. 62 El Kamash, No. 73 Tea Jandric, No. 79 Natalie Suk and No. 116 Allie Sanford.
To compare, Florida has six of its players ranked: No. 5 Belinda Woolcock, No. 15 Brooke Austin, No. 37 Kourtney Keegan, No. 81 Anna Danilina, No. 108 Josie Kuhlman and No. 121 Brianna Morgan.
So far this season, Florida’s depth in singles has been evident. Every player on the team has clinched at least one game.
Additionally, the bottom of the singles lineup has boosted Florida’s success.
In Saturday’s match against then-No. 5 Vanderbilt, Florida’s three singles victories came from the fourth, fifth and sixth courts rather than the first three.
In addition, Morgan is currently on a four match win streak and is undefeated in SEC play.
The Rebels have the advantage of playing at home, but are coming off back-to-back 4-3 losses against No. 18 LSU and No. 14 Texas A&M.
This is the first game of a weekend Mississippi road trip that also features a matchup with Mississippi State on Sunday.
"It’s going to be an interesting environment, clearly. It’s going to be loud, and they have a very talented team," Thornqvist said. "But we’ve talked all along, the whole SEC season is great preparation for the postseason. There’s not one weak team."
Contact Jake Dreilinger at jdreilinger@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @DreilingerJake.
Belinda Woolcock returns a ball during a ball during Florida's win against South Florida on Jan. 27 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
