With four matches left in the season and the Southeastern Conference Tournament drawing closer, the Gators will soon try to capture their third national title in four years.
No. 4 Florida (15-4, 7-2 SEC) moved one step closer to the postseason when it defeated No. 49 LSU (9-10, 2-8 SEC) 4-0 on Sunday.
But coach Roland Thornqvist is hardly thinking past this week.
“Oh, good heavens,” Thornqvist said. “Yeah, we’ve got two more weekends, so the SEC Tournament is [close]. But we’re still in the hunt for the regular season.”
It was hard to find fault with anything the Gators did yesterday, as each player won in straight sets after UF grabbed the doubles point.
Olivia Janowicz and Kourtney Keegan won 8-2 in the first match as they continued their dominance in doubles. The duo played at the No. 1 position for the first time this year and improved to 11-2 on the season.
“Well they’re playing at the highest level now, and you could see that today,” Thornqvist said of the Janowicz-Keegan tandem. “They have a tremendous amount of confidence and they can play three-strike tennis in doubles.”
The No. 20 doubles team of Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock captured the doubles point with an 8-4 victory. The duo lost its last three doubles matches but believed today was a sign of improvement.
“[Belinda and I] had some tough matches the past few matches, some tough losses and close ones,” Oyen said. “But overall, we have great chemistry.”
The Gators rode their momentum through singles action en route to the team’s second straight sweep.
Brianna Morgan was leading 4-3 on Court 1 when LSU’s Joana Vale Costa retired with a knee injury, giving the Gators a 2-0 lead. Soon after, Janowicz won 6-2, 6-1, and Cercone earned her 20th singles win with a 6-2, 6-1 match-clinching victory.
“I feel that I played pretty well,” Cercone said. “In doubles, I started out a little slow. Once we figured out what we needed to do and we got some momentum, it was much better.
“In singles I had a few things in my mind that I wanted to work on, and I think I did those things fairly well.”
Cercone, like her coach, is intent on focusing on the season’s remaining matches. But she still wants to improve before she begins her final postseason as a Gator.
“Every day we’re looking to get better. That’s our goal,” the senior said. “I think that being more disciplined on key points is something that we can all do a lot better job at and that can lead to more efficient matches. It makes it easier on our bodies, which is going to be important come post-season.”
Florida will travel to face Mississippi State on Friday as the SEC Tournament looms in the background.
But you wouldn’t know it from talking to Thornqvist.
“The tournament is too far away to worry about that,” he said.
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen
Alexandra Cercone swings during Florida’s 7-0 victory against Baylor on Feb. 2, 2013, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
