On May 15, 2004, the Florida women’s tennis team walked off the court, defeated at home by the Miami Hurricanes, 4-3.
Nearly eight years — 2,848 days — later, the Gators have yet to experience that feeling again.
In the 98 matches since Florida last lost at home, much has changed for UF. Players have come and gone, championships won and lost. For this year’s team, many of whom were just in middle school in 2004, none of that matters.
“As far as the winning streak, we don’t talk about it much,” junior Caroline Hitimana said. “We know it’s there, and other people talk about it, but we try to focus on every match and play the best tennis we can.”
Staying focused on each individual match is something that has been stressed all year by Hitimana, other players and coach Roland Thornqvist alike. That focus will be put to the test on today, when the Gators host No. 68 Florida State at 5 p.m. This will be Florida’s final match before Southeastern Conference play opens on Friday.
As much as the players brush off the win streak, Hitimana and junior Allie Will both agreed that the crowd at Linder Stadium plays a big role. For Hitimana, it started when she was being recruited.
“I heard that the home crowd was really good, always pushing us, always supporting us, and I think that makes a really big difference,” she said.
The Gators are no strangers to winning in Gainesville. The team is 432-25 all-time at home, winning a remarkable 94.5 percent of their individual matches. Will, the No. 1 player in the country who was in seventh grade the last time Florida at home, echoed the sentiment that the crowd support had a major impact on the team.
“Every match is exciting to win at home, and since we have such an amazing crowd, it helps us so much,” she said.
“I think it will be great for the Gator Nation, but we’ll just take it one match at a time.”
