How do you follow up a thrilling win against a highly ranked conference rival?
If you're the Gators women's tennis team, you duplicate it.
No. 23 UF followed up its 4-3 firefight against No. 2 Georgia on Friday by handing No. 15 Tennessee a 5-2 loss Sunday. The Gators own a 33-0 all-time record against the Volunteers.
The doubles point was clinched on Court 1 by the pairing of Jessica Alexander and Anastasia Revzina. The tandem defeated Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota, who were previously unbeaten, 8-6.
Revzina said she wasn't aware of her opponents' streak.
"Every time I go on the court, I just want to play," the junior said. "I want to win, but I want to play good. Afterward I can find out, 'Were they good? What are their rankings?' Before, I don't really care."
Not only did UF (9-5, 3-1 Southeastern Conference) knock off a formidable doubles team, it also clinched the elusive doubles point Tennessee was reluctant to give away all season.
Coach Roland Thornqvist said he wasn't aware of some of the streak-setting and streak-breaking and couldn't care less about it.
"I guarantee none of those kids know anything about that, and that's the way we like it," he said. "We've improved, I feel, in the past three weeks a whole lot. We lost at Kentucky, and we certainly had our chances to win up there. In the past three weeks, I feel we've progressively gotten better."
The team has had to suffer through tough scheduling, close losses, injuries and the loss of junior Megan Alexander for the remainder of the season.
Still, freshmen have stepped up to assume roles usually unfitting for first-year players. Thornqvist said having new players on Courts 3 through 6 has its growing pains, but the team is steadily working through them.
Freshman Jo Mather, who also had a crucial singles win Friday, clinched the win for the Gators by defeating Samantha Orlin on Court 3.
"Everything's starting to come together really well and everything I've worked so hard on the past two months, so it's great," she said.
"My fitness has gotten a lot better since being here, which helps a lot since I'm running everywhere when I play, and balls are starting to go in now."
Jessica also garnered Thornqvist's praise for her recent play.
"For a kid who shows up at 17 years old two months ago, it's pretty impressive," he said.
But the Gators don't begin or end with the freshmen. Marrit Boonstra, the No. 8 singles player, is 13-0 in dual match play and continued her court dominance by rallying to defeat No. 57 Whoriskey 5-7, 6-3, 6-2.
Thornqvist said Boonstra and Revzina may be feeling some pressure to win lately since they are the most experienced.
"I told (Boonstra) after she lost the first set, 'Look, today's one of those days we talked about where other people are stepping up. If you can't do it today, we're winning, the freshman are winning. Just battle, do the best you can. That's it,'" Thornqvist said. "And obviously she's such a fighter and warrior. That's not going to go away."
UF gets a long-awaited rest before heading to Mississippi on Friday.
"We're very hurt," Thornqvist said. "All of them have something, so maybe now we actually have a chance to catch up this week."
Revzina agreed. Since her Spring Break wasn't much of a vacation, she's ready to relax.
"It was a very good weekend for me. Now I deserve some rest time."
MEN LOSE IN KNOXVILLE: The No. 8 UF men's tennis team dropped its second consecutive SEC match Sunday against Tennessee 6-1.
After the Volunteers won the doubles point, the Gators (11-5, 2-2 SEC) claimed the first singles match to even the score 1-1. Freshman Joey Burkhardt defeated Davey Sandgren 6-3, 6-4.
After SEC Player of the Week Alex Lacroix dropped his match 3-6, 2-6, it was all downhill.
The Gators will be back in action at Linder Stadium on Friday against Mississippi at 3 p.m.
