Walking into the locker room at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, Andy Zhang was unfazed.
CRACK!
At least a few of the 3,133 Gators fans at McKethan Stadium Tuesday night probably didn’t see it coming. After Florida (34-9, 14-4 SEC) won its series against No. 14 Kentucky with relative ease over the weekend, they probably believed the Gators were due for a nice, easy midweek win against Mercer.
Strip away the names. Take out the conferences. Now make a snap judgement. Which of these two teams would have a better shot at beating No. 1-ranked Florida (34-8, 14-4 SEC)?
During its national championship run in 2017, the Florida women’s tennis team lost to Vanderbilt in both the final match of the regular season and the final match of the SEC Tournament, but it did beat the Commodores during the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament.
My father had barely parked his car before I opened the passenger door and just about flew to the glass storefront. From outside E-Z Tennis, I could see my prize hanging behind clustered racks of athletic apparel.
They spend hours each day preparing.
McKethan Stadium is quiet now.
In a backyard as big as his imagination, a young Alfredo Perez Jr. can’t resist the sweet summer smell of fresh mangoes.
As it marched out to The Chainsmokers’ “Something Just Like This,” the Florida gymnastics team danced, Gator Chomped and smiled, hyping up the crowd at Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis on Saturday night with its infectious energy. Even UCLA’s fans participated in the fun, doing the Gator Chomp back to UF as it lined up single file on stage to collect its third-place trophy at the NCAA Super Six team final. There were no signs that the team had just lost a national title to UCLA by .225 of a point.
Last year, Florida’s women’s tennis team fell to Vanderbilt in the championship match of the SEC tournament. This year, it was more of the same.
For the second night in a row, the Gators gymnastics team held the same narrative. Similar to its performance at the NCAA Championships on Friday, it all came down to the floor routine if Florida wanted to stay afloat in the Super Six team finals on Saturday night in St. Louis, Missouri.
With snow flurries in the air, the Gators lacrosse team was able to endure the cold conditions, as well as a challenge from the Denver Pioneers, to walk out of Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium as the 2018 Big East regular-season champions.
Florida’s softball team mobbed left fielder Amanda Lorenz as she hopped on home plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Through nine holes, it looked like UF might stage an upset in match play of the SEC Tournament, going up 3-2 against Arkansas on Saturday. Down the stretch, however, the Gators couldn’t pull it off.
Wil Dalton tapped his right cleat with the barrel of his bat after watching strike three blow past him.
In Florida’s match against Arkansas on Saturday, one could not spell “clincher” without senior Josie Kuhlman.
It was more of the same for the Florida women’s golf team during Round 3 of the SEC Tournament on Friday: not terrible, but certainly left a lot to be desired.
Last Saturday, senior Peggy Porter could only watch helplessly as she lost the decisive singles match in Florida’s 4-3 defeat against Vanderbilt to end the regular season.
In her first at-bat of the night, Amanda Lorenz stepped up to the plate with confidence.
Solutions by The State News
