University of North Texas Athletics
Green Gang: Tennis' Opening Weekend Shows Positive Outlook
1/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Return to Play
By Ryan Kasmiersky, January 25, 2010, 1:36 p.m.
Generally speaking, a 7-0 sweep in a collegiate tennis dual match is a beating. It is one team just being flat-out better than the other and dominating play throughout.
This past weekend, North Texas Tennis was a part of two sweeps. One that they dominated throughout and cruised to a 7-0 win over Jacksonville University, and another where No. 8 Florida came out and took it to the Mean Green.
The match against Jacksonville was exactly what it sounds like. It was a beating. No Dolphin singles player won more than five games in a match. For those of you not quite educated on tennis scores, five games is not enough to even win a set.
The match at Florida, on paper, appears to be the same way as what Jacksonville did to North Texas, a beat down. However, that was not the case in Gainesville. The Mean Green battled in every game, coming up short more often than not.
Coming up just a little bit short in the second match of the year will get you somewhere later in the year if you ask me. When Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist was interviewed after the match, this is what he had to say about the match.
"North Texas was very good," UF head coach Roland Thornqvist said. "They were certainly one of the tougher teams that we have had to open within my nine years here at Florida. But that was exactly what we needed. Our team was nervous and the wind was blowing out there so they forced us to be very good with the mental aspect of our game. The team had to be resilient and North Texas made our squad find that extra level of competition within them."
The fact of the matter is that Florida was better than the Mean Green. They had four players ranked in the nation's top 100 in singles play, to North Texas' zero. They had not one but three nationally ranked doubles possibilities when they start a match, to the Mean Green's one.
All of these things are true, and the fact of the matter is that North Texas went into Gainesville, faces the No. 8 Florida Gators, and lost 7-0.
Down the line, when the Mean Green go to Oklahoma, or Georgia Tech, or Georgia State they will not be afraid to face-off with some of the nation's best, which will lead to big wins down the line.
There is something special about this team. They have a mind-set that they can go in and compete with anyone, anywhere and I believe that they can. Look for big things from Mean Green Tennis as the season goes along, I have a feeling you will not be disappointed.
