Gator Country

Florida's Allie Will leads the Gators into Sunday's match against North Carolina. / Gator Country file photo by CB Lawson

After a long layoff for the University of Florida women’s tennis team, the Gators will head back to the grind of the season with a match against the No. 13 North Carolina Tar Heels at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex at 11 a.m on Sunday.

“We’re going to be excited to play again. I mean because at this time of year nobody really likes two weeks of practice. We’re ready to play,” UF coach Roland Thornqvist said.

“It’s a very well coached team. They’re always good athletes. They’re exceptional in doubles. It’ll be great challenge for us once again in doubles,” said Thornqvist about North Carolina.

The last game the Gators played left a bad taste in their mouth. They lost to the then-No. 2 Stanford Cardinal 5-2 on Feb. 12 which ended their 26-game winning streak. Since that match, Junior Allie Will became the top-ranked singles player and the Gators dropped to second in the team standings.

Florida is 10-2 all time against the Tar Heels, including a 6-0 record at home. The last time they met, the No. 2 Gators escaped Chapel Hill with a 5-2 victory over the fourth-ranked Tar Heels. This will be the ninth consecutive year the two clubs have met.

The Gators have a chance to extend their home winning streak to 99 and their regular season home winning streak to 106. Their 98-game home winning streak is the second-longest in any NCAA sport. The longest home winning streak belongs to Ohio State’s men tennis team, who has 135 straight wins at home

Coach Thornqvist will also face off against his alma matter in North Carolina where he was a two-time All-American for their men’s tennis team and receive a bachelor of arts in economics. He was also the women’s tennis head coach for three years before becoming the head coach of the Gators. The Tar Heels went 42-30 under Thornqvist and earned their first-ever NCAA berth.

“The veterans of this team have played Carolina a few times now and it’s been a war every time and we expect it to be exactly like that on Sunday,” Thornqvist said.

Gator Country reporter Sara Ladwig can be reached at .

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