Despite enjoying only marginal success in the final grand slam event of the fall season, the Florida coaches have to be pleased with how the fall season went as a whole.
While injuries and illnesses kept a number of top players relatively inactive, they also opened up opportunities for Alex Lacroix, Allie Will and Lauren Embree to shine.
Will established a 20-3 singles record, including a win at the ITA Southeast Regional and a quarterfinal appearance at the ITA All-American, while fellow freshman Embree notched a 12-2 mark and also reached the quarterfinals of the All-American.
After Will's performance in the ITA Southeast Regional, women's coach Roland Thornqvist called her fall season one of the best he's seen from a freshman in his coaching career. Embree's wasn't too far behind.
Despite the prominence of the two freshmen, Thornqvist is even more impressed with his team's depth heading into the spring season.
"I feel very good about our depth. We have a lot of good players, so I feel really good about our team and where we have a chance to be," Thornqvist said.
On the men's side, Lacroix established a 14-3 mark, including a quarterfinal appearance in the All-American and a sweep of the ITA Indoor consolation bracket.
"He's obviously somebody that's going to have a chance to win the NCAA. It doesn't surprise me at all, I thought that going in. He had a very good fall, and it's exciting for spring to have him playing like that," men's coach Andy Jackson said.
And like the women's squad, the men's team has no shortage of depth.
"A bunch of the other guys have proven they're capable of playing on a top-ten team, so I feel really good about our guys," Jackson said.
Both teams will now have approximately two months off before play resumes in mid-January, but that doesn't mean they'll be taking things easy.
"We go into an eight hour a week period with a lot of conditioning and two hours of skill instruction. We've got to continue strong and work well in the gym and improve on some things in the skill sessions, so it's a very important preparation time," Jackson said.
