The year is 2009. The month is February.
Barack Obama has just been sworn-in to the Oval Office, the top song on the Billboard 100 is Flo Rida’s “Right Round” and the Florida State women’s tennis team has just defeated Florida for the first in program history.
Nine years later, the match still stands as the Seminoles only victory over the Gators.
Florida enters Saturday’s contest against Florida State at 7 p.m. in Orlando holding a 55-1 all-time series lead.
The last time UF (2-0) and FSU (2-2, 1-0 ACC) squared off in a dual meet was in 2015, when the Gators defeated the Seminoles 6-1. Despite the lopsided history between the two programs, coach Roland Thornqvist isn’t looking past Florida State.
“I think this is one of their better teams,” he said. “There’s gonna be some fireworks.”
Freshman Victoria Emma said on Sunday that she doesn’t view FSU as much of a rival.
Senior Josie Kuhlman sees it differently.
“Florida State, obviously, is a big in-state rival against the Gators,” Kuhlman said. “We’re hoping for a really big crowd, and we’ll be able to use that atmosphere to our advantage.”
The Gators performed well on neutral ground during their championship season last year, going 11-1. The Seminoles only played four matches on neutral ground last year, going 3-1.
While the pressure of their national championship defense looms over the freshmen on the team, there will be an added element of pressure on Saturday.
“We have just been telling them to have fun and enjoy it,” Kuhlman said of the freshmen.
Videos posted to FloridaGators.com contributed to this report.
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Senior Josie Kuhlman called Florida State “a big in-state rival” ahead of Florida’s match with the Seminoles on Saturday in Orlando. “We’re hoping for a really big crowd,” she said.
