Women's tennis shuts out Kentucky in rain-delayed match
Published: Monday, March 12, 2012 at 11:04 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, March 12, 2012 at 11:04 p.m.
It took nearly two days to complete because of weather delays, but the No. 2 Florida women’s tennis team posted a 7-0 victory against Kentucky Monday at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex.
The Gators (10-1, 4-0 SEC) and Wildcats (8-7, 0-4 SEC) began their match on Sunday afternoon and were able to complete doubles action before a light rain plagued the rest of the day and prevented any significant tennis from being played.
With a handful of games in singles action already in the book, the teams resumed action on a beautiful Monday afternoon, when the Gators wasted little time in earning the team shut-out and improving to 175-1 all-time at home against Southeastern Conference opponents.
“Today we were really efficient, I was very pleased,” UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. “I thought we managed ourselves well, our body language was really good, we played offense on a couple courts where we had been practicing that and it was nice to see. Overall, it was a great day for the Gators.”
Florida also compiled its 101st consecutive home win, the longest active home winning streak of any NCAA Division I women’s program in any sport.
That streak will be tested on Wednesday when No. 3 Duke visits the Ring Tennis Complex, where first-serve is scheduled for 3 p.m.
On Monday, junior All-American and top-ranked Allie Will and sophomore Olivia Janowicz needed an hour to wrap up their respective singles matches and give Florida a 3-0 lead.
Will defeated Khristina Blajevitch, 6-0, 6-1 and earned her 98th career singles victory, that included her 60th dual match win, just before Janowicz downed CeCe Witten, 6-1, 6-1,
Approximately 10 minutes later, junior All-American Lauren Embree provided the clinching dual match singles win with a 6-2, 6-0 final against Jackie Stiles and recorded her 76th career singles victory. Sophomore Alexandra Cercone followed with a straight set victory of her own, dropped Stephanie Fox, 6-0, 6-1.
Senior Joanna Mather rallied after dropping her first set against Edmée Morin-Kougoucheff and captured her 91st career singles win , as well as her team-leading 20th this year, 4-6, 6-0, 1-0 (10-4). Junior Caroline Hitimana completed the dual match sweep with a 6-1, 6-1 victory against Marni Venter, as Hitimana won her seventh consecutive match, including her 13th straight in dual match competition.
All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be re-published without permission. Links are encouraged.