After ending one streak, the Gators refused to begin a new, less appealing one.
On Sunday, No. 2 Florida avoided losing two games in a row a day after its four-game winning streak came to a close..
The Gators beat No. 6 Southern California 4-1 on the third day of the National Team Indoors. The win came against the highest ranked opponent Florida has played this season and increased UF’s record to 2-1 in the tournament.
“I told [the team] that this was about as proud as I’ve been of any team,” coach Roland Thornqvist said.
“To be able to make this turnaround, to take ownership of [Saturday] by responding to adversity today, it makes a coach really, really proud.”
Florida began the match where it has many times this season: struggling slightly in doubles and then dominating singles play.
For the fourth time this season, each duo in Florida’s doubles pairings consisted of a senior and a freshman. Alex Cercone and Stefani Stojic began doubles play with a 6-2 loss, but Olivia Janowicz and Kourtney Keegan kept the Gators’ hopes alive with a 6-3 victory. Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock were not able to pull through in the final set, losing 7-5 and yielding the doubles point to USC.
After losing the doubles point a day earlier against Northwestern, the Gators could not overcome the deficit and struggled the rest of the way.
But Sunday was a different story.
After losing the doubles point, Florida rattled off four straight wins in singles to take the match.
Keegan, Cercone, and Brianna Morgan won in straight sets and Janowicz won a close match at the one spot 2-6, 6-4, 10-6. Cercone was credited with the clincher, winning 7-5, 6-1 to capture Florida’s sixth win of the season.
“We talked last night and challenged our team to be more resilient and courageous in their play,” Thornqvist said. “[Today] was one of those moments where the team could have just folded up and given up, but I have to say this is a top-10 moment for this team to battle back and win four straight singles matches in the way we did against one of the best teams in the country.”
Entering the National Team Indoors, the Gators knew they had to elevate their doubles play to compete with the talent-level at the competition. Florida won its first match of the tournament against host Virginia 4-2, but it would have lost the doubles point if not for Woolcock and Oyen’s late rally to win the decider.
After falling behind in doubles again against Northwestern on Saturday, Florida could not pull out another comeback and was swept in doubles play. UF went on to lose in a 4-2 quarterfinal upset.
However, Sunday’s bounceback win was a huge milestone for the freshman-laden Gators, who have a week off before playing Florida State on Feb. 18.
“Winning this match in the way we did made coming to this tournament a huge success,” Thornqvist said. “It could have been a devastating event for us. This team managed to turn this trip into a huge success and I’m hoping it will pay huge dividends down the stretch.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
Brianna Morgan swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
