Making Do With A Half-Dozen

UF coach Roland Thornqvist, now in his 17th season, will try to guide the reigning national champions to their 14th straight trip to the NCAA Championship round of 16.

Making Do With A Half-Dozen

Thursday, May 10, 2018 | Women's Tennis, Chris Harry

The defending NCAA-champion Gators have played the 2018 season with just six scholarship players.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — His title is "head coach" of the Florida women's tennis program, which also means, obviously, that Roland Thornqvist oversees the composition of his team. In reviewing the 2018 outdoor season to date (and previewing the pending NCAA Tournament), Thornqvist put on his metaphoric executive's hat.

"I must say, speaking as a general manager, we've had our challenges this year," Thornqvist said, as he looked back on a period that had two of his players turn professional, another lost to injury, and another player added between semesters. "As a GM, I get maybe a passing grade, at most."

Thornqvist probably is a being a little hard on himself (most coaches are). In the same assessment, though, he was quick to praise his six players — remember that number — for the way they've handled and pressed on through the challenge of this very unique season.

Six. Players.

Last year's Florida team, the one that rewarded Thornqvist with his fourth national championship, had eight players. That's normal. Most Division-I programs (certainly, the elite ones) carry eight. Had freshman McCartney Kessler not transferred in in January, and thus began playing meaningful collegiate matches barely a month out of high school, the Gators would have been combing the campus courts and reaching out to the UF club team for help.

Instead, Florida (18-8) is ranked ninth and seeded ninth overall heading into this weekend's regional draw at Linder Stadium, where the Gators open play Friday against unseeded Youngstown State (16-10), with an eye toward reaching the NCAA Championships and the round of 16 for the 14th straight year.

"It's been tricky," senior standout Anna Danilina said of negotiating the season with such depleted numbers. "But we've managed."

Thanks to their [general] manager.

Rewind to last May in Athens, Ga., when the Gators were seen sprinting en mass onto Court 3 to celebrate freshman Ingrid Neal's national championship-clinching point in the NCAA final against UCLA. A week later, Neal turned pro, leaving a significant void on the roster late in the recruiting cycle.

Then Jodie Burrage one-upped her.

Burrage, the No. 1-ranked player in England and one of the top juniors in the world, decided in August — a week before the start of the fall semester — that she was turning pro, as well.

Senior Anna Danilina will help lead the Gators into Friday's first-round NCAA Championship action against Youngstown State.

Thornqvist already was losing three seniors off that championship squad to graduation, so the defection of Neal and Burrage put a big hole in things. So, heading into 2018, the roster was comprised of four seniors and two freshmen. That number of seniors was reduced to three after Brooke Austin was lost to injury in December.

McCartney's early enroll put UF back at six in January, with half of them collegiate rookies. Even so, when the '18 season began in late-January, the Gators debuted as the third-ranked team in the country, a residual byproduct of their place as defending NCAA champs.

"We were definitely over-ranked to start the year, and that weighed very heavily on this team; the worst thing that could have happened to us," Thornqvist said. "That was a great burden when we played. It held us back."

And some unusual things began to happen. The Gators lost. A lot. Seven matches into the season, UF had a 3-4 record and was ranked 49th in the country.

But something else was unusual about that difficult run.

"Best thing that could have happened," Thornqvist said.

It was around that time Thornqvist and assistant Dave Balogh began to see things turn. The two coaches never let their tone with the team turn negative. They avoided conversations about expectations. They emphasized the positive.

"We relaxed more," Danilina said. "We took it all day by day, match by match."

Incrementally, things started to come together, as the players began demonstrating more aggression on the court. Playing to win versus playing not to lose.

The Gators went to Stanford, a haunted house for some fabulous UF teams over the years, and upended the Cardinal 4-3. A week later, they upset No. 7 Ole Miss, also on the road, and an early part of a streak of 11 wins over 12 matches. In the first week of April, the Gators went to South Carolina and upset the fifth-ranked Gamecocks. A week later, they had a 3-1 lead on third-ranked Vanderbilt at home — with the Southeastern Conference crown in the balance — only to drop the last three matches to fall 4-3.

Basically, March and April were two weeks that reminded the college tennis world that Florida, even when down in numbers, is still Florida.

"We'll always have a target on our backs," senior Josie Kuhlman said. "It's been tough at times this year, but now it's time for the NCAAs, so we're going to have fun, swing free, and see what happens."

A win over Youngstown will likely mean a second-round date with rival and 17th-ranked Florida State (17-12), which takes on unseeded North Florida (13-9) in Friday's first-round play. The Seminoles spanked the Gators 4-1 in February, part of that ugly start to the season. A rematch between the two could spice things up at the tennis complex.

And give UF (and its GM) a shot to take this season full circle. And beyond.