For Roland Thornqvist, January is an open race.
The UF women’s tennis coach is tasked with navigating his team through new doubles formations, a different lineup and stiff competition as UF begins its Spring season.
“I think this year it’s wide open in January, and it’s going to make for an interesting Christmas and certainly really cool to start off practice in January,” Thornqvist said in December. “I’m looking forward to having ... really good players, so we can compete every day in practice where the players have to prove themselves.”
Throughout the Fall season, however, the team got a head start on proving itself.
With top finishes at the Duke Invitational, ITA Regional Doubles and Dick Vitale Classic, the Gators found success throughout the season.
Players such as Anna Danilina and Josie Kuhlman, who went 21-2 and 15-5 in the Fall, contributed to that success and are hoping for their momentum to carry over.
Individuals aside, UF is equipped with its most veteran team of the past 10 years, which consists of seven upperclassmen. That experience is expected to show entering the Spring.
“We have a really good team. We have a veteran team. I’ve been telling them that the entire fall,” Thornqvist said.
“They seem much more relaxed, confident, and they know what’s going on. They handle their business like upperclassmen. It’s been really easy to manage this group.”
But despite the easy management, Florida’s schedule isn’t helpful.
The Gators host the ITA Championship at the end of January and play defending national champion Stanford and runner-up Oklahoma State in Gainesville in February.
This all comes before the team begins Southeastern Conference play in March.
“We’re going to go through the gauntlet in February. That’s like an NBA schedule,” Thornqvist said.
“We’ll find out a lot about our team early on. And then obviously going through the tough SEC schedule will prepare us for the postseason.”
The Gators’ season begins today at the UNLV Invite in Las Vegas.
Contact Spencer Thompson at sthompson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @spencemthompson.
Anna Danilina watches the ball during the 2016 ITA Regional Championships at the Ring Tennis Complex.
