Senior Brooke Austin didn't play in a single match during the spring after a mysterious undisclosed injury, according to team officials.
The 2018 Florida Gators women’s tennis team had a reputation to uphold. As defending champions, it came into the season looking to win a second-consecutive NCAA title and, if not, showcase that UF is still a dominant force in the world of collegiate women’s tennis. Half of the team’s six-person squad were freshmen.
The Gators did not repeat. In fact, they couldn’t even make it out of the second round, and while they did put together a successful regular season, the issues facing them could possibly put future attempts at greatness in jeopardy.
Despite the young lineup, UF showed promise early in the season when it won both its matches in a 4-0 sweep at the ITA Kickoff to start the season.
Things quickly turned for the worse, however. Florida State defeated the Gators 4-1, their second loss in 58 matches all-time with the Seminoles.
From then on, play was wildly inconsistent. UF would defeat high-ranked opponents such as Stanford, Ole Miss, and South Carolina while dropping matches to other top teams such as Texas, Georgia and, most importantly, Vanderbilt.
The Commodores defeated Florida all three times the two squads met, two of those for the regular-season SEC Championship and the final in the SEC Tournament.
The inexperience from half of the roster showed during big moments. After it was defeated in both the regular-season SEC Championship and the SEC Tournament final, it was knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by FSU. The Seminoles claimed two straight over the Gators after just one victory in 57 previous matches.
To start the year, there was also the mystery behind senior Brooke Austin, a 2015-2016 First-Team All-SEC selection. After playing the fall season, she did not practice or travel with the team due to an undisclosed injury, according to team officials. She stayed on the roster, but for all intents and purposes was missing in action, not even being mentioned during UF Senior Day on April 14.
Freshman McCartney Kessler left her high school a semester early to fill Austin’s void.
The Gators’ best play was fueled by the performances of senior Anna Danilina, who finished the season with a 30-11 record in singles play. Danilina, along with seniors Peggy Porter, Austin and Josie Kuhlman, will be leaving the squad. Only three players, all freshmen, will return to the team next year, leaving UF with only underclassmen. What’s more, Florida was extremely short-staffed with only six players last year - a situation that Danilina referred to as “tricky” - and with only Marlee Zein of Sugar Land, Texas, as the program’s lone verbal recruit, the team could find itself both understaffed and inexperienced next season.
However, there is certainly hope for the future. Coach Roland Thornqvist put together a 19-9 record with a shorthanded squad. With such a young team next year, Thornqvist will have lots of time to build it back up without any players leaving until 2020. On top of that, Florida’s freshmen performed admirably in 2017-18, with Victoria Emma and McCartney Kessler both earning SEC Freshman of the Week honors during the season.
After a quick exit from the NCAA tournament and a young roster for 2019, the Florida Gators have no grand success to follow up on for their rebuild, and it may be precisely what they need.
You can follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
