Friday’s game against Georgia has a lot more at stake for the Bulldogs than it does the Gators.
With a perfect Southeastern Conference record, Florida needs only one win to guarantee a share of the SEC title.
A victory against Georgia will earn the Florida women’s tennis team the sole possession of the title, despite the result against Tennessee on Sunday.
But Georgia is one of the toughest teams Florida will play.
The Bulldogs are currently 17-2 with a 10-1 SEC record and sit in second in the conference behind the Gators.
"We have to play well, and we have to be able to handle the crowd. The crowd can be tough and it can make it difficult for you to play good tennis," coach Roland Thornqvist said.
"We need to be able to handle (the crowd) and play within ourselves and not listen to the ooh-ha-ha from the stands."
Florida's level of play this season has been consistent with the level Thornqvist wants them to be at.
Doubles play has been Florida's biggest strength, as the Gators have dropped just two doubles points this season.
This season, senior Brianna Morgan and sophomore Anna Danilina are both 9-1 in dual match doubles play. Against ranked opponents, the duo has gone 5-1 through 2015-16.
And in singles, Florida earned an impressive 27-1 record during SEC play that saw them face eight current top-25 teams, including Vanderbilt, last season’s NCAA Champions.
Behind strong play in their last matchup against Auburn on April 10, the bottom of the Gators’ lineup came up strong, each winning in straight sets to help Florida sweep the Tigers.
"I think it’s very important because we are coming up on tournament time. And if you play really well in the SEC tournament, you’re going to play Friday, Saturday and Sunday," Thornqvist said.
All season long, Thornqvist has been talking about wanting to see his team develop before the start of postseason.
Each week, Florida has shown they have improved since the two losses to No. 1 California on Feb. 26 and then-No. 16 Stanford on Feb. 28.
Since those two matches, Florida hasn’t lost a dual match.
Coming into the final week of the regular season, the veteran coach is pleased with his team’s progress.
And with the postseason approaching, Florida needs to be playing its best tennis of the year.
"We knew we were going to be powerful, we knew we were going to hit the ball hard," Thornqvist said.
"But can we play our way out of trouble instead of kicking our way out of trouble? And it looks now that we are really embracing that, and that’s key come tournament time."
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.
