Last year, Florida’s women’s tennis team fell to Vanderbilt in the championship match of the SEC tournament. This year, it was more of the same.
The No. 1-seeded Commodores defeated UF 4-0 in the conference tournament title match on Sunday, their second sweep of the Gators this year.
Freshman Katie Kubicz and senior Peggy Porter were the first to fall in doubles play, as the duo lost to the Commodores’ Christina Rosca and Amanda Meyer 6-1. Vanderbilt’s Fernanda Contreras and Astra Sharma clinched the doubles point with a win over senior Anna Danilina and freshman Victoria Emma. Danilina and Emma, despite being UF’s No. 1 duo, went winless in doubles play throughout the entirety of the SEC tournament.
Up 1-0, the Commodores continued their strong play in singles. Meyer struck first with a win over Emma 6-1, 6-2.
Summer Dvorak, who defeated Porter on April 14 to clinch the regular season SEC championship, followed up shortly after with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kubicz.
The Commodores completed the shutout when Contreras defeated senior Josie Kuhlman, winning 6-2, 6-1 and bringing the SEC Tournament trophy back to Nashville.
Despite the lopsided defeat, UF coach Roland Thornqvist looked on the bright side after the match.
"We've come close to two trophies,” Thornqvist said in a release, “but I feel nothing but pride on what these Gators have achieved.”
Florida will get a short break before they move on to the NCAA Tournament, which begins on May 11.
"We've got three weeks here so we can take care of some academics and then start working toward the NCAAs,” Thornqvist said. “We can start from zero in our preparations. It comes at a good time for us.”
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Coach Roland Thornqvist said his team will try to learn from its mistakes after Florida fell to Vanderbilt in Sunday's SEC Tournament championship game. “We can start from zero in our preparations," he said.
