The UF women's tennis team could not have asked for a better start to its Southeastern Conference season.
The Gators (10-1, 4-0 SEC) are coming off road wins against No. 20 Tennessee and No. 6 Georgia that allowed them to gain sole possession of first place in the SEC East.
UF shared the regular-season conference title with Georgia last season after falling 4-3 in Athens. This time around, the Gators got the better of the Bulldogs, winning 5-2 and putting in a good position to win another conference crown.
"I thought we were very mentally tough," UF coach Roland Thornqvist said of the wins against Tennessee and Georgia. "If we can keep that up, that's going to give us a chance every time out."
UF hasn't played a match in 12 days, something its coach thinks could both help and hurt his team.
"I'm hoping that the break didn't make us too rusty," Thornqvist said. "I do think that we really needed this break both physically as well as mentally because of the long season that we have.
"If we had to take a step back short-term to get two steps forward long-term, that's what we needed to do right now."
The Gators should be able to work their way through the rust this weekend, as their competition will not be nearly as stout as their last two matches.
No. 4 UF will host Mississippi (4-10, 0-4 SEC) on Friday at 5 p.m. before heading to No. 59 Mississippi State (7-5, 0-4 SEC) on Sunday.
Thornqvist said the players had a good week in practice and held up strong physically, but he said there's still room for improvement throughout the team.
"A few of our players are playing extremely well, but I'd say close to half the team still has a long way to go before their peak," he said. "If you're looking for who's been the most consistent in her performance day in day out up until this point of the year, clearly (senior) Whitney (Benik) is the one that stands out."
Thornqvist said his team has been most consistent in doubles play, and their results show just that.
UF is 31-2 in doubles matches this season and has yet to lose the doubles point in any dual match.
"We just want to continue to do what we're doing," Thornqvist said. "We want to continue getting better every time out."
The UF men's tennis team will face the same opponents as the women's team.
The No. 18 Gators will travel to No. 5 Mississippi on Friday in a key match for both teams to stay in the conference race.
The Rebels (12-3, 3-1 SEC) defeated UF (8-4, 3-1 SEC) last season 5-2 in Oxford.
The Gators will return home on Sunday to host No. 47 Mississippi State. UF knocked off the Bulldogs (7-5, 1-3 SEC) 6-1 last year.
