Florida entered Friday’s match in fourth place in their conference and with 129 consecutive home victories — the longest active home winning streak in any Division 1 Women’s sport.
They walked off the courts with their 130th consecutive win and a top-3 spot in the standings.
No. 11 Florida (18-4, 10-2 Southeastern Conference) swept No. 5 Vanderbilt (17-5, 10-2 SEC) 4-0 in a pivotal matchup between top SEC teams.
Florida barely squeaked out the doubles point, but then went on to win each singles match in straight sets to complete the shutout.
Alexandra Cercone and Brianna Morgan captured the first doubles match with an 8-2 victory. The Commodores’ Ashleigh Antal and Sydney Campbell answered with a hard-fought 8-7 (7-5) tiebreak over UF’s Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock.
The No. 26 doubles team of Olivia Janowicz and Kourtney Keegan captured the doubles point in their most tightly contested match as a duo, winning 8-7 (7-5).
“We were both pretty confident going into that tiebreak because we were up 6-3 at one point, but they ended up coming back,” Keegan said. “[Olivia and I] just had to stay together and talk to each other and it ended up going through.”
After UF took a 6-3 lead over Vanderbilt, the latter rallied and scored the next three points. The two teams continued to trade leads as the doubles match lasted almost ninety minutes.
“What’s interesting is that [Kourney and Olivia] got the lead by being very aggressive… we lost the lead when we stopped doing that,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “Kourtney made a huge backhand and a volley sealed it. We got a little lucky… but it tells them that when we do have courage and do the right thing, we get rewarded.”
Florida rode its momentum into singles play, where Woolcock took the first match. The freshman won 6-3, 6-2 to give the Gators a 2-0 lead.
“I think the last two weeks we’ve worked really hard on fitness and I think that’s really paying off now.” Woolcock said. ““I was winning the longer rallies, and basically that’s what won me the match.”
Soon after Woolcock’s match ended, Cercone won 6-3, 6-1 to put the Gators up 3-0. Brianna Morgan clinched the match with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 win, and improved to 22-2 in career dual match play.
“These players that [Brianna] is beating are really, really good players,” Thornqvist said. “I’m hoping, with some more practice here, she’s going to start feeling the ball better and then, you know. It’s night-night.”
Florida will host its final match of the regular season when No. 30 Kentucky visits on Sunday at 1p.m. UF will begin post-season play next week.
“We’re going to need to play well at the NCAA tournament or SEC tournament when we play the best teams in America,” Thornqvist said. “The SEC is brutal, and this tournament next week is going to be a great test.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
