The No. 4 Florida women’s tennis team (15-2, 5-0 Southeastern Conference) showed no signs of rust from a 12-day layoff in defeating No. 57 Mississippi State (9-6, 1-4 SEC) 7-0 on Friday.
“You’re never quite sure how your team will react after not playing for a while, but I must say that having the weekend off really helped the Gators,” UF coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We were as sharp today as we have been all season.”
The match started with the Gators winning the doubles point, something they have done in 16 of the 17 matches this spring.
Up 1-0, UF had no trouble getting the three singles wins to clinch the victory.
The first match to finish in singles was won by No. 9 freshman Allie Will. Will defeated Mississippi State’s Olesya Tsigivntseva 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 2 position.
Will is 15-0 in singles competition this spring.
Senior Anastasia Revzina put the Gators in position to clinch the victory with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mississippi State’s Valeriya Makarycheva on court No. 4.
The clinching singles win came when No. 17 freshman Lauren Embree defeated Radka Ferancova. Embree scored her first career “double-bagel” in the 6-0, 6-0 win at court No. 1.
The women’s team returns home to host No. 28 Mississippi (9-3, 3-2 SEC) on Sunday at 10 a.m. The match was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but it has been pushed up due to weather concerns.
The No. 6 men’s team (12-2, 4-0 SEC) will also face the No. 14 Rebels (13-2, 4-1 SEC) at 2 p.m. in Oxford, Miss. on Sunday at 2 p.m.
