Two wins against Vanderbilt on Friday kept all winning streaks intact heading into Sunday.
The No. 6 Florida men’s tennis team (14-2, 6-0 Southeastern Conference) started the afternoon with a 7-0 win over No. 35 Vanderbilt (10-8, 2-5 SEC).
No. 6 junior Alexandre Lacroix and SEC Freshman of the Week Bob Van Overbeek remained undefeated in SEC singles play with straight-set wins at Nos. 1 and 4.
Sophomore Joey Burkhardt won his first singles match since the match against LSU on March 7 with a 7-5, 6-3 win over No. 114 Vijay Paul at the No. 2 position.
Sophomore Nassim Slilam and freshman Sekou Bangoura Jr. bounced back from losses at Mississippi last week with wins at Nos. 5 and 6.
The men’s squad wraps up SEC road play on Sunday when it travels to coach Andy Jackson’s alma mater, No. 10 Kentucky (15-6, 5-2 SEC).
The No. 3 Gators women’s tennis team (17-2, 7-0 SEC) made sure the seniors will have the opportunity to finish the season with their home match winning streak intact.
With a 6-1 win over No. 24 Vanderbilt (9-7, 4-3 SEC), seniors Anastasia Revzina and Marrit Boonstra have the opportunity to leave Florida as significant contributors to a streak of 91 consecutive regular season home match victories.
Though the score does not indicate it, the Gators played the match “unfocused” according to coach Roland Thornqvist.
“Forehands and backhands looked good today, but the little things were not so good,” Thornqvist said. “I think we may have shown our youth today.”
Boonstra and freshman Allie Will, the No. 5 doubles team in the country, were the first to finish their doubles set with an 8-1 victory over the No. 25 team of Chelsea Preeg and Jackie Wu.
Sophomore Claire Bartlett was the first to finish in singles with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Megan Gornet at No. 6.
Bartlett has been in a rotation with freshmen Caroline Hitimana and Brittany Borsanyi at the bottom spot.
“We’re competitive with each other, but we know we’re all on the same team,” Bartlett said.
No. 14 freshman Lauren Embree put the Gators up 3-0 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over No. 23 Catherine Newman at the top spot.
The clinching win came when Vanderbilt’s Kylie Ulery left her match against No. 79 Marrit Boonstra on court No. 3 due to injury.
Shortly after the clinch, Mather won her first match of the season at the No. 4 position 6-2, 6-3 over Rachael Dillon.
No. 9 Will remains undefeated this spring after a 6-4, 6-2 win over Vanderbilt’s Preeg at the No. 2 spot
The women’s squad will play its last home match of the season on Sunday at noon against Kentucky (2-15, 0-7).
“We’re going to practice tomorrow,” Thornsqvist said in response to a question about changes in preparation. “We’re going to work on all the little things (before Kentucky).”
Seniors Anastasia Revzina and Marrit Boonstra will be honored before the match.
