Freshman Stefani Stojic has a new nickname.
“Stefani the clincher!” senior Alexandra Cercone screamed as UF celebrated its second straight win of the season.
After Sunday’s match, maybe the name will stick.
Stojic won her second consecutive meet-clinching match as No. 2 Florida (2-0) shut out Harvard (1-1) 4-0 in the ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship at the Ring Tennis Complex.
“I’m very proud of her; I can’t tell you the strides that she has made since we started practicing in August,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “She’s very fast and she’s looking to use her athleticism now when she competes, and that’s going to make her very difficult to beat.”
Stojic won her match 6-3, 6-3 to advance Florida to the National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va. But before Stojic sealed the win, her teammates contributed to the shutout with dominant performances.
Freshman Kourtney Keegan and senior Sofie Oyen swept both of their singles matches in straight 6-0 sets.
“In singles, [Kourtney and Sofie] were like a choo-choo train; you couldn’t stop them,” Thornqvist said. “Not only were they very, very good offensively, but I thought they made very few errors on top of that.”
The Keegan-Oyen tandem also teamed up in doubles for the second game in a row and won 6-4 to give UF a 1-0 lead before starting singles play.
“We played together in Vegas for the first time, and it went really well from the start,” Oyen said. “I love playing with [Kourtney]. She’s so relaxed, she has such a good serve, and we have such great chemistry so that helps a lot too.”
Oyen, Keegan and Stojic combined to score all four points for the Gators in the second meet of its back-to-back shutout. Florida’s freshmen have been paramount to the team’s early season success.
“[The seniors] have all kind of gone through it so they’re kind of easing us into it,” Stojic said.
“We’ve trained hard and we’re doing the right things. They’re showing us what we need to know about everything, so I think that’s really helped us a lot.”
While the freshmen have found their rhythm early, the seniors are still looking to improve their play.
Seventeenth-ranked senior Olivia Janowicz won in doubles but struggled slightly in the No. 1 spot, as did Cercone on Saturday against Louisville.
“In singles play, I think was the first time [Olivia] played one on the show court, and I think that moment got to her a little,” Thornqvist said. “Maybe a little bit of that happened to Alex [on Saturday], too.”
Despite a slow start from the seniors, the Gators do not lack strong play from the rest of the team. Wednesday, Florida will try to win its 127th regular-season home game in a row when UCF visits.
“We’re all excited to play and we’re so ready for this season,” Oyen said. “I think we’re going to go out there and play our best tennis again.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
Stefani Stojic swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-0 win against Harvard at the Ring Tennis Complex.
