For the third straight year, the Gators are one win away from a national title.
No. 2 Florida (26-1) advanced to the NCAA Tournament final after defeating No. 3 Duke (29-3) in the closest match the Gators have played this postseason.
The match remained close to the final point, with Alexandra Cercone putting UF on top with a 4-3 victory.
“I don’t know how we won that match,” said coach Roland Thornqvist.
The match began with a close contest for the doubles point. The Gators and the Blue Devils split the first two matches, but Florida’s No. 1 duo of Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather won the point with a 9-8 victory.
The match moved to singles, and Duke quickly regained momentum, despite losing the doubles point.
The Blue Devils won the first set on five of the six courts, with Embree providing the only first-set victory for the Gators.
“The first hour in singles, they were beating us to death,” Thornqvist said.
While many of her teammates were trailing in their matches, Embree defeated Ester Goldfeld in straight sets 6-4, 6-1, giving Florida a 2-0 lead.
Mather scored the next point for the Gators, coming back from a first-set loss to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-0.
Though Florida held a 3-0 lead, the match was far from decided, as Duke led on the other courts, and the Gators still needed to win one of them to clinch the match.
Both Sofie Oyen and Cercone each forced a third set after dropping the first, but their third sets would play out quite differently.
Oyen won the first game of her third set, but quickly fell behind and would not be able to recover, losing 2-6. Cercone came back from a 2-0 deficit in her match, and would not relinquish her lead, winning 6-3 and clinching a championship berth for UF.
“Today [Cercone] got outplayed and found a way to win the second,” Thornqvist said. “She was just a surgeon at the end. She put the ball where she wanted it to be at the end.”
Florida will put its 21-match winning streak on the line against UCLA with the national championship at stake today at 1 against UCLA.
The Bruins come into the championship match ranked No. 1 in the country, and they lived up to their billing.
They racked up decisive victories throughout the early rounds of the tournament, only surrendering one point before their semifinal match. In the Final Four, UCLA defeated USC 4-3.
“We know they’re a really tough team and they’ll give everything they have,” Embree said.
“I’m just really excited for tomorrow.”
Senior Joanna Mather returns a shot against Duke on Monday. Mather won both her singles and doubles matches against the Blue Devils.
