After a dramatic win against earlier this week, the Florida women’s tennis team returned to its traditional fashion and defeated South Carolina 4-0, with the three singles matches winning in straight sets.
The doubles teams came out strong with N0. 8 Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan taking their match 8-2. Austin and Keegan are now 4-0 in SEC doubles play. Freshman team No. 31 Josie Kuhlman and Peggy Porter clinched the doubles point after winning their match 8-5.
“We were much more aggressive when we needed to be,” head coach Roland Thornqvist says, “because South Carolina has a very strong doubles team.”
Porter took her momentum into singles play and had another strong performance, sweeping in two 6-1 sets. Porter had a match-clinching tiebreak win against Texas A&M, something she believes has helped her feel more comfortable playing.
“After clinching that,” Porter says, “I feel like I have the ability to win in tight situations and I’m just a lot more relaxed.”
No. 5 ranked Austin gave up only one game to her opponent and swept in two sets 6-0, 6-1. With this win, the Gators had a 3-0 lead in the match and only needed one more player to win to get the victory.
Brianna Morgan stood up and took that responsibility. She took the first set 6-4, and started to improve as the set went on. In the second Morgan dominated her opponent and didn’t give up a single game, taking the set 6-0.
“In the second set she started taking a few balls a little earlier,” Thornqvist says of Morgan, “and she worked her way forward, and instead of having to hit 10 balls she hit four or five each point, so that helped her clinch the second set quicker.”
The Gators have four matches left in their regular season, all of them in the SEC. First, the team will be on the road in Kentucky on April 3.
Listen here for Roland Thornqvist and Peggy Porter:
Peggy Porter talks about her confidence after Texas A&M