Post-season play in May might seem a long way off for the Gators women’s tennis team, but when the time comes, the team’s out-of-conference resume will look impressive.
The No. 5 Gators (12-2, 2-0 Southeastern Conference) defeated No. 4 North Carolina (13-2) 6-1 on Wednesday.
The victory is Florida's third over teams in arguably the toughest conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference. UF's other wins over ACC teams include 7-0 victories over then-No. 6 Duke and No. 15 FSU.
An important part of Wednesday's victory was securing the doubles point.
Joanna Mather and Caroline Hitimana put Florida in position to win with an 8-5 victory on court No. 3, but play went to tiebreaker sets on both of the other courts. The No. 34 doubles team of Lauren Embree and Anastasia Revzina had an 11-game winning streak snapped when they lost their tiebreaker on court No. 2.
The point was secured when the No. 6 doubles team of Allie Will and Marrit Boonstra won their tiebreaker. The doubles point gave UF the momentum it needed to dominate singles play.
Embree and Revzina both bounced back from the doubles loss and were among the five players posting singles wins to give the Gators the 6-1 win.
Florida travels to take on Auburn in its first road match of the season at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The team is 1-2 in neutral-site matches away from Gainesville.
