No. 2 Florida and No. 19 Baylor will meet on Saturday in similar situations.
Both teams are ranked, both are first in their conference standings and both are coming off a streak of three consecutive shutout wins.
The Gators (3-0) will try to keep their streak alive when they travel to Waco, Texas, to play the Bears (6-0) on Saturday.
The Gators will face a long stretch of challenging opponents in the upcoming weeks, including a series of matches against ranked teams at the National Team Indoors on Feb. 7-10.
Baylor marks the beginning of Florida’s tough stretch and will present the stiffest competition UF has encountered all season.
“Baylor is very tough,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “They’re a scrappy team. They’re going to give us problems; [they] play long games, get a lot of balls back, and … it’s going to be a big crowd.”
Crowd noise is expected to play a large part in the outcome of the Gators’ first road game of the season.
“Last time we played there — about two years ago — they had about [600] or 700 people outdoors, so if they’re bringing 500 indoors its going to be really loud,” Thornqvist said.
The Gators will play indoors for their second consecutive game after frigid temperatures forced the match against UCF to be moved inside the Perry Indoor Tennis Facility. Florida hopes that playing its last match indoors will help them adjust quickly against Baylor.
“It’s a little faster [indoors],” senior Olivia Janowicz said.
“The ball’s not moving as much. We’ve been practicing here quite a bit lately … We’re comfortable with it.”
Florida’s seniors are accustomed to playing in hostile road environments, but UF’s three freshmen will experience their first away game in a loud environment.
“There are some things we have to handle other than forehands and backhands this weekend,” Thornqvist said. “For [the freshmen], it’s going to be their first [road game].
“I’m hoping if we can handle that, [then] I feel very confident about our tennis right now.”
Follow Ian Cohen on Twitter @ibcohen5
