Florida’s women’s tennis team hasn’t had an ideal start to the season.
With a 1-2 record, the Gators tied their worst start since 1986 and failed to reach the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Indoor Championships for just the fourth time in program history.
Coach Roland Thornqvist expected a slow start for Florida due to the inexperience of its starting lineup — three freshmen and two sophomores — but he insists these matches will be building blocks to learn from.
“This is an environment that none of our new players have experienced,” Thornqvist said after Monday’s loss. “We are going to have to have more of these situations where we compete, and we need to become comfortable with being uncomfortable.”
With a strong core in No. 9 ranked Ida Jarlskog, per the ITA, and No. 29 McCartney Kessler, Florida has two leaders in singles play who it must continue to rely on moving forward. Kessler and Jarlskog both stand at 2-1 in singles. They can lead by example during the large three-week gap before UF returns home to play Florida State on Feb. 19.
The Gators have also been without sophomore Victoria Emma, who has been sidelined with a wrist injury. Though there is no timetable for her return, Emma could provide some big-game experience which Thornqvist mentioned his young team has continually lacked.
The UF men’s team, on the other hand, started exactly the way it wanted.
After defeating Florida Atlantic and clinching a trip to the ITA National Indoor Championships for the eighth time in the tournament’s 11-year span, the No. 4 ranked Gators sit at 2-0 and have yet to lose a singles match.
Their skills will be tested with a difficult upcoming slate, though.
Led by three players ranked in the ITA top 50 in singles play — No. 9 Oliver Crawford, No. 37 Andy Andrade and No. 46 Johannes Ingildsen — Florida will face UCF on Jan. 31, No. 19 Florida State on Feb. 2 and No. 22 TCU on Feb. 10.
The Gators enter the match against UCF with a head-to-head record of 18-0. Though it appears Florida will dominate on paper, it hasn’t opened its matches particularly strong.
Florida lost the doubles point to FAU before cruising to four straight singles victories and the match win. Coach Bryan Shelton was proud of how his team responded despite the unexpected loss and will look for his team to continue playing with this level of energy moving forward.
“Overall, I thought that was one of the best parts of the match with how we responded so quickly and to put our one, two and three singles out there and for them to be so dominant,” Shelton said in a release after Sunday’s victory. “When you get popped in the mouth, you jump right back up on your feet, and you start throwing punches. I was really pleased with that.”
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
UF men’s tennis sophomore Oliver Crawford is the No. 9-ranked collegiate player. He is one of three Gators ranked in the top 50.
