ATHENS — The record book will say Florida won its second consecutive women’s tennis championship on the road Tuesday. But for Joanna Mather, this was a home match.
The highly decorated senior was raised in Duluth, just 55 miles east of the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, and honed her tennis skills at Racquet Club of the South in Norcross.
Anybody listening during Tuesday’s proceedings — in which the Gators steamrolled No. 1 UCLA 4-0 to win their second consecutive national title — would have heard the continuous din produced by the Mather clan, which took up nearly an entire section behind Court 3 inside Henry Field Stadium.
Mather did her best to identify the members of her personal gallery: “My mom, my dad, her dad, his wife, my mom’s mom, her husband, my mom’s brother, his children, my dad’s sister and her boyfriend,” she said. “I hope I’m not missing anybody.”
Make no mistake about it: While Mather is from Georgia, she’s 100 percent Gator.
“I don’t have a history in Athens, but it’s nice that it’s so close to my house,” said Mather, the winningest player on Florida’s team with 61 singles and doubles victories this season. “My house has been filled with my family members all week. My boyfriend’s here staying at my house, so everyone has been coming out to watch. ... We’ve played here a lot while I’ve been in college, and it’s just such a great atmosphere.”
Especially when you play like the Gators played Tuesday. UCLA (26-3) entered the match considered the team to beat with the No. 1 ranking. But the Bruins hadn’t crossed paths with Florida, and they never had a chance to catch their breath once they did.
Florida’s ITA No. 1-ranked doubles team of Allie Will and Sofie Oyen made quick work of the No. 4-ranked team Robin Anderson and Skylar Morton, 8-4, and the No. 3 squad of Alex Cercone and Caroline Hitmania won almost as quickly, 8-5. That Anderson had to be hospitalized for dehydration after the semifinals probably contributed to their demise.
“Florida played with a lot of energy and fire,” said UCLA coach Stella Sampras Webster, Pete Sampras’ sister. “ I think we had chances at 2 and 3, but Florida played well and won a lot of big points. Losing the doubles point was big.”
With the tone set, Florida carried it into singles. In less than two hours, Cercone and Oyen had made the score 3-0. Then Mather’s best buddy Lauren Embree clinched the championship with a 6-4, 6-0 win over McCall Jones at the No. 2 position.
In no time at all the Gators were donning 2012 NCAA Championship T-shirts. Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley was on hand to provide congratulations.
“I flew to San Francisco last year,” said Foley, who arrived on the university’s jet 45 minutes before first serve. “If they were playing in Alaska I’d be there. Obviously, winning a national championship is hard to do and special to do. To watch that team compete the way they compete, it’s why we get up in the morning. Wherever we play for a national championship, I’m going to watch them play.”
It was the third national championship in tennis for Florida coach Roland Thornqvist and the 28th national title of any kind for Florida, including 20 in 20 years under Foley.
Now having won two in a row, Thornqvist wasn’t even able to let it soak it in before the question of a “three-peat” came his way. It’ll be made much harder, he said, without Mather around to lead the way. She has won 214 matches as a Gator, 104 in singles and 110 doubles, which rank 10th and seventh in Florida history.
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The men’s championship between No. 3 Virginia and No. 1 USC was delayed for three hours by inclement weather before being moved indoors. The Cavaliers led 1-0 after winning the doubles point. Finally, at 12:54 a.m., No. 51-ranked Yannick Hanfmann won a third-set tiebreaker 7-4 to give the Trojans their fourth national championship in a row. ...
The singles and doubles tournaments get underway Wednesday. Georgia’s men placed a school-record five players in the singles draw — Wil Spencer, Sadio Doumba, Ignacio Taboada, KU Singh, Hernus Pieters — while 2010 champion Chelsey Gullickson and Maho Kowase will represent the Lady Dogs. Representing Georgia Tech are Kevin King, Juan Spir, Jillian O’Neill and Alex Anghelescu. Georgia State’s only entry is Abigail Tere-Apisah.
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