Embree Lends Her Experience, Championship Touch

Sunday, May 14

1 pm ET

Florida Gators

Miami (NCAA Second Round)

Lauren Embree during Sunday's second round of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championships.

Embree Lends Her Experience, Championship Touch

Sunday, May 14, 2017 | Women's Tennis, Chris Harry

Former UF tennis superstar Lauren Embree is helping out as a volunteer assistant.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Roland Thornqvist put a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of his new volunteer assistant for Sunday's second round of the NCAA Women's Championships. The coach of the No. 1-seeded Gators sent his newbie to Court 2 to oversee the doubles tandem of Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan.

Yes, the same duo that won the national championship in the doubles draw last season.

"I told her not to mess them up," Thornqvist said.

Lauren Embree would be incapable of such a deed.

Embree, a UF treasure and one of the most accomplished players in women's college tennis history, is taking a break from her professional tennis schedule to lend a hand to the Gators, who Sunday made 4-1 work of Miami under the hot sun at Ring Tennis Complex to advance to the NCAA Round of 16, set for Friday at Athens, Ga.

"It was amazing to be out there again," said Embree, who starred for the Gators from 2010-13 and was the centerpiece of Thornqvist's back-to-back NCAA champion squads of 2011 and '12. "I feel so lucky that Roland would want me here for this. And I love the girls. Some of them I still know from when I was here. That part kind of makes me feel old."

At 26, Embree isn't exactly a blue-hair. Quite the opposite. In fact, Embree was about a dozen tournaments into a professional tennis comeback — she actually quit the circuit in 2015, but her retirement lasted only 10 months — when she spoke a few weeks ago to Thornqvist. Embree, currently living and training at Saddlebrook Resort, just north of Tampa, had a tournament lull upcoming in her schedule.

When her former coach heard that, the invitation went out.

It was accepted without hesitation.

"Not only is it good to have a third set of eyes, but she's really, really good on the court," Thornqvist said. "She understands what these guys are going through. It's fantastic."

While Embree stood watch over Austin and Keegan team, the doubles teams of Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel on Court 1 and Josie Kuhlman and Belinda Woolcock on Court 3 made quick work of the Hurricane competition to secure the doubles point to get things rolling.

From there, it was onto singles, with Embree bouncing from Danilina on Court 4 and Keegan on Court 6, with Danilina polishing off Silvia Fuentes 6-0, 6-3 to provide the match-clinching point to move the Gators on.

"I loved having her there," Keegan said. "It was cool being around her my freshman year and it's still cool now."

On Saturday, Embree was on Court 6 when Peggy Porter beat Massachusetts' Brittany Collens for the clinching fourth point. Two days, two clinchers on her watch.

Pretty good Gator mojo, right there.

"They were all great to work with. Just so coachable and super fun," Embree said, "You know, I don't say very much. I try not to get in their heads. I'm mostly there for encouragement and think about more what I would have wanted to hear, what Roland might have said and what would have worked for me. That's my approach."

It worked. Now, she'll take it to Athens for what the Gators hope will be a very long weekend.

Who knows? This coaching thing may be something Embree pursuies down the line.

"When I got out of school, no, I would not have wanted to do it, but I have to say it's something I think I could be interested in," Embree said. "I can relate to the players because I'm a girl and I played college tennis. For me, it was just so rewarding to speak to them and see them respond. It makes me think I can do it."