With the Southeastern Conference tournament title on the line, the pressure was on senior Brianna Morgan.
In her final SEC tournament match, Morgan was locked in a three-set match against Georgia’s Silvia Garcia.
Morgan came out on top (6-4,4-6,6-4), clinching Gators’ 20th SEC Tournament title, as No. 2 Florida beat No. 4 Georgia 4-2.
Morgan also clinched the SEC regular season title against the Bulldogs, finishing off a perfect regular season slate for the Gators ((21-2, 13-0 SEC).
Since 2006, this is the sixth time Florida has won both the regular season and SEC conference titles.
“I think the key thing for our players is to feel like they are getting better,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “We are getting fitter. The little things that we work on week in and week out seem to prevail. That is probably the most important thing.”
The Gators’ dominance in doubles continued against Georgia.
No. 68 Anna Danilina and Morgan got things going with a 6-2 victory over Carolina Brinson and Laura Patterson. The No. 3 duo of Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 win over No. 12 Mariana Gould and Ellen Perez.
No. 65 Danilina extended the Gators lead over the Bulldogs, quickly defeating Patterson 6-3, 6-2.
But Georgia bounced back when No. 47 Kennedy Shaffer got a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 9 Belinda Woolcok.
No. 7 Austin, though, stopped Georgia’s momentum, defeating Perez 6-3, 7-5 to put the Gators at 3-1.
Georgia (20-4, 11-2 SEC) would answer back with Gould getting a third-set win over Josie Kuhlman 3-6, 6-1, 6-3.
It then came down to Morgan’s match. With the matchup tied at one set apiece, Morgan delivered the final blow, pulling out the win.
“We want to be able to tell our players and have our players feel like they have done all the work necessary all year,” Thornqvist said. “There was nothing else they could have done by the time we line up for the NCAA Championships.”
Florida will now await their opponent in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which starts on May 13.
The Gators are looking for their seventh title. The last time Florida won the title was in 2012.
Contact Jake Dreilinger at jdreilinger@alligator.org and you can follow him on Twitter @DreilingerJake.
UF’s Brianna Morgan returns a serve during Florida’s win over USF on Jan. 27, 2016, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
