For the second time in the last year, Florida lost a national title to Stanford.
The No. 1 Cardinal handed the No. 2 Gators women’s tennis team its first loss of the season in the finals of the ITA Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
Florida (10-1) fought back from an early deficit to tie the match at two. With Allie Will, Joanna Mather and Alex Cercone still competing, the Gators needed two wins to capture their seventh national indoor title.
But Mather and Cercone lost, and Will’s attempt was abandoned after Stanford claimed the four points necessary to win the match.
Although the Gators came up short, coach Roland Thornqvist said his team put all it had into the weekend.
“You can feel how disappointed these girls are right now,” Thornqvist said. “These four days definitely took a physical, mental and emotional toll on us. It’s rough to lose in the end, but we learned a lot from it, and this will help us down the road.”
The Gators dominated throughout the tournament and came close to toppling Stanford in the finals, but failed to capitalize on golden opportunities.
In what proved to be a crucial portion of the match, the Gators lost the doubles point, as only the No. 30 team of Mather and Lauren Embree was able to notch a win.
Their win on Court 2 was followed by the No. 1 team of Will and Sofie Oyen losing 8-5 to the No. 3 duo of Hilary Barte and Mallory Burdette. Cercone and Olivia Janowicz then fell 8-6, giving the Cardinal the doubles point.
“I think that gave Stanford some wind in their sails,” Thornqvist said. “Our doubles play has been fantastic so far, but I feel like they were just a little better than us today.”
The Gators began to mount a comeback in singles play, with Embree and Janowicz scoring straight-set victories to give UF a 2-1 lead.
Embree’s win came against Burdette, who clinched the NCAA Championship for Stanford a year ago against Florida.
Oyen’s straight-set loss to No. 20 Kristie Ahn let Stanford back into the match, tying the score at two.
Meanwhile, Mather was in trouble on Court 4 against No. 21 Nicole Gibbs. The junior, ranked No. 19, ended up dropping the match in straight sets. The defeat was her first singles loss of the year, and left Cercone and Will as the Gators’ last hopes.
Cercone lost a close third set to Stacey Tan, clinching the win for Stanford. Will’s highly anticipated bout against No. 3 Barte was called early amid a third-set thriller.
“We had chances all over the place in singles, but we didn’t take advantage of them,” Thornqvist said. “That cost us because usually when you’re playing a team like Stanford, you’re not going to get any second chances.”
