GAINESVILLE, Fla. — If the Florida Women’s Tennis Team was looking to make a statement with its final two matches of the regular season, the Gators got off on the right foot Friday evening by blanking visiting Vanderbilt, the No. 13 team in the nation, 4-0. The win improved Florida’s record to 14-6 overall and 9-5 in conference, moving the team into a tie for sixth place with the Commodores (19-7, 9-5).
Vanderbilt came into Friday’s match boasting a pair of top-10 doubles teams, and three of the top 25 singles players in the country. None of them left Gainesville with wins under their belts. No. 17 Florida’s number two doubles team of Brooke Black and Valery Gynina jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead against the tenth-ranked team in the nation in Valeria Ray and Bridget Stammel, and went on to win 6-2. It was the duos’ first win over a nationally-ranked team this season in seven tries.
Lucie Pawlak and India Houghton clinched the doubles point for the Gators with a 6-3 decision over Erin Pearce and Mia Yamakita at number three winning the final three games of the match. Pawlak and Houghton are now a team-best 7-4 in SEC play.
Gynina picked up her second win of the day at number two singles, battling back from a 3-0 deficit in the first set against the 14th-ranked player in the country, Celia-Belle Mohr, to win 7-5, 6-4. That victory put the Gators up 2-0, and with Houghton, Gabia Paskauskas, Pawlak and Nikola Daubnerova all winning their first sets, Florida had a number of pathways to the overall win. Pawlak clinched her match at number four against Erin Pearce, 7-5, 6-3 to put the Gators one win away leaving Houghton as the most likely option to clinch the match.
The graduate student from Tiburon, California won the first four games of her match against Stammell, the sixth-ranked player in the country, and took the first set 6-3. She broke Stammell late in the second set to go up 5-4, and closed out the win for herself and for the Gators the very next game.
Florida Head Coach Per Nilsson was all smiles after the match. “That was probably the best match we played all year as far as everybody competing. We told them before the match ‘If we compete, we can beat anyone, and individually they can beat anyone,’ and I think sometimes they don’t believe that, especially when we’re on the road. And at home they seem to respond a little bit better, but today you could really tell that they didn’t really care who was on the other side. It’s like ‘Let’s compete hard, and do our thing,’ so that was fun.”
Part of the reason that the Gators didn’t care who was on the other side might have been because they didn’t know who was on the other side, at least when it came to their national rankings. “You kind of have a general idea [of your individual opponent’s ranking heading into a match],” explained Houghton, “but before the match we didn’t know what their lineup was going to be at all, and sometimes it’s better not to know, honestly, so you’re not thinking too much because for us, we all have the ability, so it’s how we play, not how our opponents play.”
Gynina was likewise taken aback when she learned how highly ranked both her singles and doubles opponents were, going as far as to pull out her cellphone to verify the information after the match. “Actually, before the match I didn’t know that [Mohr] was really, really high ranked, and I think it’s a good thing for me because then I just compete like its anyone. And after [Lucie] came up to me, and she is also French like my opponent, she was like “You know, this girl, she is the best in France’ and I was like ‘Oh, really?’ And she was like ‘She’s [nationally] ranked], and I was like ‘Wow, okay’ (laughs).”
In addition to focusing on their own play rather than their opponents’ Houghton stressed that the Gators were determined to just go out and enjoy playing together. “Before the match our mindset was to go in and have fun and enjoy it because we just have so few matches left in the season, and for me, very few matches left in my career too. And I think we were playing free and just enjoying it, and I think that’s why we did so well.”
Florida has one more regular season match left on their schedule as the Gators host Missouri on Sunday, April 12 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex beginning at noon. It is senior day for Florida, and the Gators will celebrate the careers of Houghton and Nong in an on-court ceremony prior to the match.
FINAL RESULTS
Singles
1 #77 India Houghton (UF) def. #6 Bridget Stammel (VAN) 6-3, 6-4
2 #67 Valery Gynina (UF) def. #14 Celia-Belle Mohr (VAN) 7-5, 6-4
3 #57 Gabia Paskauskas (UF) unf. #24 Valeria Ray (VAN) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0
4 Lucie Pawlak (UF) def. Erin Pearce (VAN) 7-5, 6-3
5 Sophia Webster (VAN) unf. Xinyi Nong (UF) 7-5, 4-3
6 Nikola Daubnerova (UF) unf. Sophia Webster (VAN) 6-3, 4-4
Order of Finish. 2, 4, 1
Doubles
1 #7 Mohr / Webster (VAN) unf. #19 Xinyi Nong / Daubnerova (UF) 5-1
2 Gynina / Black (UF) def. #10 Ray / Stammel (VAN) 6-2
3 Houghton / Pawlak (UF) def. Pearce / Yamakita (VAN) 6-3
Order of Finish 2, 3
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: X | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
