The UF women’s tennis team improved its record to 2-0 when it defeated UCF on Wednesday.
The entire match was dominated by the Gators, as they beat UCF 3-0 (8-2, 8-2 , 8-1) in doubles play and 6-1 in singles.
Florida improved its all-time record against UCF to 8-0 and extended its regular season home match win streak to 78 games (not including post-season play).
No. 92 senior Anastasia Revzina captured her second-career straight-sweep win (6-0, 6-0) and her first since her freshmen year, overpowering UCF’s Jenna Doerfler.
“(Revzina) just hit the ball too big today,” UCF coach Stephanie Nickitas said. “She was quicker and did a good job on staying on top of Jenna the whole match.”
Revzina’s backhand was her most effective shot Wednesday.
She started the seventh doubles game of the set with a strong backhand that thoroughly impressed spectators and even her teammates.
“She does that a lot,” Revzina’s doubles partner, freshmen Lauren Embree, said.
No. 15 Embree also won her singles match, defeating UCF’s Andrea Yacaman (6-0, 6-1).
“We are a young team, and we have great communication,” said Embree. “We love playing together, and we just want to improve every match.”
The Gators were without their other impact freshman Allie Will, who did not play Wednesday due to a coach’s decision.
“Your only allowed to play in 25 matches,” UF coach Roland Thornqvist said. “She has to sit two matches in spring, and Lauren will have to miss one, so I decided to sit Allie today.”
Embree and Will are in an elite class of Gators freshmen. They were the third pair of freshmen in program history to start the dual match season in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions.
Embree participated in the 2009 French Open, preparing her for college tennis.
“All her Grand Slam experience makes it less daunting to play as a number one for the Florida Gators as a freshmen,” Thornqvist said. “The traditional freshman couldn’t come in and play the one position for us right in the middle of the year with everybody watching and not be overwhelmed, but I think she’s handled it very well.”
UF’s only loss of the day occurred in Wednesday’s longest match, when UCF’s senior Katie Orletsky defeated sophomore Claire Bartlett in a tiebreaker (7-5, 3-6, (10-7)).
“Katie did a good job of staying competitive the entire match,” Nikitas said. “Claire kept coming back, challenging Orletsky, but she did a good job of staying on top and not letting her come back and take the match.”
UF’s next match is Friday against BYU.
