After the first day of NCAA singles competition, two of the three Florida players were eliminated.
After the second day, only one UF doubles team remained.
No. 14 Olivia Janowicz was the only Florida player to earn a win in the NCAA Singles Championships, ousting Santa Clara’s No. 31 Katie Le in the first round 6-0, 6-2.
“I fought really hard for every point and learned from the mistakes I made during the team competition here,” Janowicz said in a release.
Also on Wednesday, No. 28 Alexandra Cercone fell to North Carolina’s No. 1 Jamie Loeb 6-2, 7-5, while No. 16 Brianna Morgan was defeated 6-1, 6-2 by Miami’s No. 29 Stephanie Wagner.
Even though Morgan was eliminated early in the first NCAA singles draw of her career, the sophomore finished the 2013-2014 season with a 29-8 singles record — good for the third most victories on the team.
Cercone drew arguably the toughest first round matchup of the tournament, UNC’s top-ranked Loeb, and fell just short of a comeback in the second set.
In the second round of the singles competition on Thursday, Janowicz was upset by Oklahoma State’s No. 52 Viktoriya Lushkova, 7-5, 7-5.
There was very little time for the Florida senior to regroup, as she and Kourtney Keegan lost to North Carolina’s Whitney Kay and Caroline Price 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 later that evening in the first round of the doubles championships.
The No. 27 pair of Belinda Woolcock and Sofie Oyen was the lone Florida doubles team to advance to the Round of 16. They defeated Georgia Tech’s No. 6 duo of Megan Kurey and Kendal Woodard 6-0, 6-3, and will face Baylor’s No. 25 tandem of Vitoria Kisialeva and Blair Shankle on Friday.
In addition to Janowicz’s first round singles victory, she also won the ITA National Most Improved Senior of the Year award. While Janowicz remained fairly consistent in her singles play, she improved from a 9-10 doubles record in 2013 to a 17-4 record in 2014.
“Olivia symbolizes perfectly what this award is all about,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “A player who, through hard work and tenacious spirit, managed to find the summit of both our lineup and college tennis overall.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
Olivia Janowicz returns the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
