Women's Tennis Faces Tough Final Stretch Beginning Friday
Thursday, April 8, 2010 | Women's Tennis
The Gators have just three regular-season matches remaining and play two of those this weekend, beginning Friday when Florida travels to No. 16 Tennessee, before facing No. 14 Georgia in Athens on Sunday. The Gators conclude their 2010 regular-season slate the following Saturday, playing at No. 15 South Carolina on April 18.
With Georgia's 5-2 loss to Ole Miss on April 4, Florida (18-2, 8-0 SEC) became the lone undefeated team remaining in Southeastern Conference play, sporting an 8-0 record with three matches left and controls its own fate in the SEC title race.
The Gators' final three regular-season matches, however, are all on the road and all against teams within two spots of them. South Carolina and Georgia are 7-1, while Tennessee is 6-2.
“We're really excited about this week,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “We've have a week of practice where we've had a full dose of adrenalin flowing. We've been trying to create some of that additional intensity prior to this week, but we didn't have any problems with that this week knowing who our next two opponents are.
“We know we have to play at the top of our game in all of these road matches to give ourselves a chance,” Thornqvist continued. “I'm very excited about that and I believe our players are, too,”
Florida enters Friday's match against Tennessee sporting a 33-0 all-time series record against the Lady Vols, including a 14-0 record in Knoxville against its fellow SEC Eastern Division foe.
Florida is 38-14 all-time against Georgia, which won two of the three meetings played last year. The Gators won the 4-3 regular-season thriller in Gainesville, before the Lady Bulldogs took the SEC Tournament semifinal outing, 4-2, and the NCAA Round of 16 contest, 4-2. Florida holds a 10-4 lead against Georgia in matches played in Athens, where the Lady Bulldogs last regular-season win against the Gators occurred - 4-3 decision on March 11, 2007.
Freshmen Lauren Embree (Marco Island, Fla.) and Allie Will (Boca Raton, Fla.) play the No. 1 and 2 singles positions, respectively, for the Gators and both have enjoyed phenomenal success. Embree has won 10 consecutive singles matches and sports a 25-5 overall record, including a 7-0 mark in SEC dual matches. Will rides a team-leading 17-match singles win streak into Friday's contest, with all 17 coming in dual match play, with seven in league action.
The freshmen sensations pair with UF's two senior co-captains on the doubles court, where Will and Marrit Boonstra (Groningen, The Netherlands) assume the No. 1 spot and Embree and Anastasia Revzina (Moscow, Russia) patrol the No. 2 position. Will and Boonstra, ranked No. 5 in the country, will have their nine-match win streak severely tested on Friday, when they square off against the nation's top-ranked team of Caitlin Whorisky and Natalie Pluskota.
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