For No. 5 Florida, the easy part is over.
“We’re in the brutal stretch now of February,” coach Roland Thornqvist said.
It’s a stretch that includes Florida State, Stanford and Texas A&M this month and a Southeastern Conference slate of 12 games next month.
After having the success they have had the past couple of weeks, the Gators feel they can handle it.
In their last series of matches, Florida (6-1) left the National Team Indoors relatively unscathed. It lost one game to Northwestern but pulled out two important victories against Virginia and Southern California.
After compiling a 2-1 record among the nations’ elite teams, senior Olivia Janowicz was named SEC Player of the Week.
“We put Olivia up on the one spot because she has really improved a lot, and her fall results really dictated that,” Thornqvist said. “I think now she’s relaxed and playing her game and there’s nobody in the country that she can’t beat.”
Janowicz has won a team-best 20 singles matches and will look to win again when the Gators play No. 28 Florida State (5-2) today at 4 p.m. The annual meeting between UF and FSU has been fairly lopsided, with UF losing the matchup only once in the past six years.
For the past week, Florida has focused on remaining in shape physically and will utilize today’s dual match as an opportunity to continue experimenting with doubles pairings. Thornqvist has cemented the Janowicz and Kourtney Keegan pairing at the two spot, placing them in doubles together for each of the past six matches. However, Thornqvist says the team is still working through pairings at the other positions.
“We didn’t have much success at the 3 spot so we need to be able to win them all,” Thornqvist said.
“It's not just about forehands and backhands. We need to see how they communicate together, and [then] we’ll be able to field three very competitive double teams … If you’re going to win a championship you’re going to have to win at every spot.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
