Even as one of the top teams in the country with some of the top players, No. 2 Florida still sees room for improvement. That’s been the attitude all year for the Gators (15-1, 8-0 Southeastern Conference), but at this point late in the season, getting better isn’t so easy.
With four singles players in the top 50 and two doubles teams in the top 15 nationally, getting better takes on a different meaning. Rather than working on fundamentals, the Gators are at a stage where they are working on match strategy and how they can beat elite competition. Two weeks from now, the Gators will compete in the SEC tournament, with NCAA play starting shortly thereafter.
No. 1 Allie Will, a player who has been nothing short of dominant this season, said that small adjustments will make a big difference in the next few weeks, especially with her serve.
“I’m constantly working on being aggressive and working on the depth of my shot,” she said. “These next few weeks I’m really going to be focusing on my serve, because if I’m serving well it’ll make me return even better. A good serve will help me hit more forehands, but it’s not necessarily about how hard I’m hitting it, it’s more about where I’m placing it and how I’m mixing up my spins to keep my opponent off-guard.”
In a similar situation is No. 11 Lauren Embree, a fellow junior, who has also been putting away opponents with relative ease. Both Embree and Will have lost to top-10 opponents, with Embree losing to No. 4 Mallory Burdette of Stanford and Will dropping a match against No. 8 Chelsey Gullickson of Georgia. Those matches against top-flight opponents are the focus of the players’ training at this point.
“Roland always wants us to work on the little things to help us prepare for the really big matches and tight situations,” Embree said.
The next three matches for the women are against teams ranked outside the top 30 in the country, including tonight’s match against Arkansas. While none of the remaining teams are likely to pose a challenge for Florida, Embree said that the team wants to make sure it makes Joanna Mather’s senior weekend a successful one.
“This weekend, it’s Jo’s senior day and senior weekend so hopefully we can all come out and make her have a good day,” Embree said.
While the women host a pair of matches, the No. 9 Gators men will be on the road against Arkansas tonight and LSU on Sunday. Florida (12-7, 5-3 SEC) will look to extend a recent run of good tennis as they, too, approach the postseason.
