Gators’ Streak to be Tested on Lengthy SEC Road Swing

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — On March 18, the Florida women’s tennis team was ranked 18th when it took the home court at Alfred Ring Stadium to face Kentucky. The Gators had suffered a couple early season losses, including a pair to No. 2-ranked and Southeastern Conference favorite Texas A&M, but had strung together consecutive league wins against No. 34 LSU, No. 32 South Carolina and No. 23 Vanderbilt to seemingly right the UF ship and get the program back on track in its quest to return to national prominence.

That’s when Kentucky came to town ranked 68th.

The Wildcats left with a 4-2 victory, handing the Gators what is believed to be the worst loss in program history relative to the ITA computer rankings. Yes, there were mitigating factors, starting with Sara Dahlstrom, UF’s No. 1 singles player, being out due to an illness and a couple teammates feeling under the weather. Still, the Gators lost the doubles point and spent singles play trying to claw back, but eventually losing for the fourth time in 12 matches.

 

“Kentucky really played well, really out-competed us, and it just became the perfect storm,” Florida coach Roland Thornqvist recalled. “But when I think back on that match I think about how our players responded.”

Rightfully so. The UK match was on a Sunday. On Wednesday, No. 3 Michigan came to town and the Gators waxed the Wolverines 4-1. That was March 22 and Florida has not lost since, stringing together a run of five consecutive victories, as the Gators, now ranked 17th, head into a crazy SEC home stretch of four straight road matches (plus the SEC Tournament) to wrap the regular season, starting Friday afternoon at No. 15 Tennessee.

The last four victories have all been in SEC play — at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, then last weekend at home against Missouri and Arkansas — by a combined score of 21-7. The Gators had a tough one in Starkville, before winning 5-2, but handled the next three opponents by a combined 16-3 count.

So what happened? What flipped the switch?

The Gators will say their growth has been a combination of a relatively young team (two seniors in the lineup) experiencing in-season maturation and growth, along with a mindset adjustment that very well may have been hatched in the aftermath of that Kentucky loss.

Or as Thornqvist put it, “It think what happened was more between the ears than anything on the court. That’s just how this sport is sometimes.”

UF’s players talked themselves into a…