UF women’s tennis coach Roland Thornqvist and his team are no strangers to success at the Duke Invitational.
The Gators took home four trophies at the same tournament last year. And three of those champions are back on the team this season, ready to compete: Belinda Woolcock, Kourtney Keegan and Peggy Porter.
With matches starting today, what’s to expect?
For one, elite competition. Teams in the field this year include Duke, LSU, Miami, North Carolina and Virginia.
“It’s a great field,” Thornqvist said. “So we expect nothing less this year.”
Six members from Florida will be playing in the invitational. Josie Kuhlman and Woolcock will compete together in the Black doubles draw, opening up play against NC State. Meanwhile Keegan and Porter are paired in the Blue draw, and Anna Danilina and Spencer Liang will team up in the White draw. All six athletes will be playing in singles events as well.
“I’m really looking forward to going and I know they are too,” Thornqvist said.
This will be chance for the team to see where they are right now, and what they need to begin to work on this fall as regular season and conference play looms ever closer.
“Each player obviously has a thing or two that they want to improve on or get better at,” Thornqvist said. “There’s going to be some good data points to see where we are, and what we need to improve on.”
On Wednesday, the 2016 Oracle/ITA Collegiate Tennis released their Women's Division I Preseason Rankings, and the Gators claimed three singles and two doubles rankings in the top 30. Florida is also the only team in the country with two players in the top 10 for women’s singles, Brooke Austin (No. 6) and Woolcock (No. 9).
With the experience each player has on this roster, both Thornqvist and his players are excited for matches to begin.
“They sense that there is going to be great competition for the spots so every one of them has done a good job preparing, and I think we’re looking forward to playing a tough, strong field at Duke,” Thornqvist said in a release Thursday.
The UF men’s tennis team will also be competing this weekend in the Duke James Bonk Invite, playing alongside teams such as Auburn, Duke and Wake Forest.
Along with redshirt junior Joshua Wardell and junior Jordan Belga, two freshmen will be in the lineup to play this weekend: Stephen Madonia and David Sarkissov.
“For two of our guys, David and Stephen, it’s really their first true college experience, competitively speaking,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release Thursday. “So they’ll have some nerves out there, but that’s part of the game, just learning how to manage those nerves and go out there and play and enjoy what they’re doing and represent the Florida Gators.”
With the invite being the kickoff for the fall season, Shelton wants his athletes to keep one thing in mind.
“We’re going there to get better and improve, and I think if we have that mindset then we’ll be successful,” Shelton said.
Contact Cassie Amundson at camundson@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @camundson_.
UF's Kourtney Keegan hits the ball during Florida's 6-1 win over USF on Jan. 27 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
