The Gators tennis teams are both excited for the Southeastern Conference Tournament, they just don’t know who they will play yet.
The No. 3 women’s team (21-2, 11-0 SEC) is the No. 1 seed at the tournament in Athens, Ga., and get a first-round bye from Thursday’s action. Friday, it will face either No. 9-seed Alabama or No. 8-seed LSU at 10 a.m.
UF has the advantage of playing on a court it has already won at this season. On April 11, the Gators defeated then-No. 14 Georgia 6-1.
“Everybody did a great job,” No. 11 freshman Lauren Embree said. “The crowd was against us, but we came out and won against a good team.”
Embree heads into Friday with a 13-match winning streak at the No. 1 position in singles.
It does not get any easier for opponents to beat the Gators at the next spot down. SEC Freshman of the Week No. 7 Allie Will posted a 20-0 record in singles this dual-match season.
Thanks to the success of Embree and Will, the expectations are high going into the postseason for the Gators.
“Any (upcoming) match we don’t win would be a disappointment,” UF women’s coach Roland Thornqvist said.
The No. 6 men’s squad (17-3, 9-1 SEC) will be the No. 2 seed at the SEC Tournament in Lexington, Ky.
UF goes into the tournament with a 9-1 record in conference play, but men’s coach Andy Jackson does not want to talk about a rematch with the one team that got the best of the Gators.
“It’s way too early to talk about (a possible rematch with) Tennessee,” Jackson said.
The men’s squad has also had success on the court they will be playing on at the SEC Tournament in Lexington, defeating then-No. 10 Kentucky 4-3 there on April 4.
The only way Florida faces the Volunteers is if both teams make the tournament championship match Sunday.
UF will face either No. 7-seed Vanderbilt or No. 10-seed Mississippi State on Friday at noon. The Gators swept the Commodores 7-0 earlier this year, and their match against the Bulldogs was rained out and never played them this season.
