Lauren Embree grabbed a bittersweet victory on Sunday.
The senior shut out Georgia Tech’s Elizabeth Kilborn 6-0 in two sets to put Florida ahead 2-0 in her final home match as a Gator – a 4-0 win against No. 23 Georgia Tech (15-10) to send No. 1 Florida (24-2) to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
“The last game, I was thinking about that I was going to finish, that my chances were pretty high of finishing, and then after the last point when I was done I was just thinking ‘I’m never going to get to play here again,’” Embree said.
Embree worked Kilborn at her corners and at backcourt to trip the Yellow Jacket up in the final game. Embree served to backcourt and Kilborn couldn’t contest it, sending the ball straight into the net.
As Embree grabbed her 116th career singles win to a standing ovation, senior Caroline Hitimana struggled to finish her match.
Hitimana came out strong in the first set, defeating Jasmine Minor 6-1. But the second set came along and Minor wised up, battling Hitimana back and forth on the scoreboard at a 3-3 tie at the clincher.
“I was kind of sad because I knew I didn’t have anymore matches to play at home, but we still have matches to come, so I’m focusing on that,” Hitimana said.
Coach Roland Thornqvist also shared the bittersweet feeling of Sunday’s match.
“Both Caroline and Lauren have had nothing but great attitudes and wins here,” Thornqvist said. “It’s a privilege to have them on the team. It makes my job not feel like a job.”
Despite the pressure of playing its final home match of the season, Florida played a tough style that Georgia Tech couldn’t shake.
After Embree finished the first singles match of the day, freshman Brianna Morgan followed the senior’s victory with one of her own.
In the final game, Morgan hit the ball out to bring the match to deuce. The freshman managed to trip up Megan Kurey with a spike at midcourt. Playing for the match point, Morgan served up a ball to backcourt that Kurey couldn’t follow through on. The Yellow Jacket smacked the ball into the net, giving Morgan the 6-2 win and increasing Florida’s lead to 3-0.
“Brianna has been exceptional all year long,” Thornqvist said.
“I think she’s still getting used to the doubles game; there’s clearly a little bit of lag in the development there right now, but her singles game is just phenomenal. She’s fast. She’s got a great racquet speed. She makes good decisions now, so she’s very difficult to beat.”
Junior Olivia Janowicz needed to come from behind to clinch Florida’s 4-0 victory.
After winning 6-2 in the first set, Janowicz fell apart at the beginning of the second. She was at a three-point deficit to Muriel Wacker, but rallied through two-breaks to forge ahead at 4-3. Janowicz kept a consistent rhythm, hitting at the sides and won out for two more games to grab a 6-3 victory.
The Gators won the first point of the match in doubles, with Alex Cercone and Hitimana winning at 8-2, followed by Embree and Sofie Oyen for the clincher.
Embree and Oyen’s doubles match kept fans at edge, as the Gators rallied ahead against Kurey and Kendal Woodard, then dropped games shortening their lead to 6-5.
“We knew that Kendal had a really big serve so we thought that you know, ‘hang in there in the service games with her and maybe we can get lucky enough to play a good game,’” Embree said. “She missed a couple first serves but we just knew we had to hold our serves or else we’d be in trouble.”
Embree and Oyen won a game, then Kurey and Woodard won one right back. The Gators finally edged the Yellow Jackets out in the final game, as Woodard sent the ball into the net and gave the Florida pairing an 8-6 win.
UF advances to the Round of 16 in Champaign, Ill., and will play Duke on Friday.
Thornqvist said he’s confident in his team perform well away from home.
“I feel like we’ve done everything we should have,” Thornqvist said.
“That’s what we always sort of preach; once you get here, you want to feel like you’ve covered everything and then you can live with whatever results happen the rest of the summer. No matter what happens now, I’ll be the first guy to shake these players’ hands because they work really hard with great attitudes and we’re rolling up there with seven players ready to go and that’s a great feeling.”
Lauren Embree hits the ball at Riviera/ITA All-American Championships on Oct. 3, 2012 at the Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif. Embree won her final home singles match in Florida's 4-0 win against Georgia Tech on Sunday.
