The No. 13 Gators defeated No. 27 Vanderbilt 4-3 on the road Friday evening. Florida now owns nine SEC wins this season and is on an eight-match win streak.
NASHVILLE, TN. – No.13 Florida opened its weekend on the road with a 4-3 win over No. 27 Vanderbilt. The Gators are now on an eight-match win streak and will head to Lexington on Sunday afternoon to face the Wildcats.
Florida’s first win of the day came from doubles pair Rachel Gailis and Bente Spee, defeating Sonya Macavei and Amy Stevens 6-1 on court three. Spee and Gailis now boast a 4-1 SEC record and are on a two-match win streak.
The second doubles victory came from Carly Briggs<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/carly-briggs/16139> and Qavia Lopez<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/qavia-lopez/16283> as they defeated Valeria Ray and Holly Staff in a 6-2 effort. Briggs and Lopez were able to close in quickly on Vanderbilt to secure the point and put Florida ahead on an early 1-0 advantage.
No. 25 Celia-Belle Mohr and Anessa Lee led No. 30 Alicia Dudeney and Malwina Rowinska 4-3 before Florida clinched the doubles point, leaving court one’s match unfinished.
The Gators saw a minor setback at the start of singles play with No. 13 Rachel Gailis dropping 6-4, 6-0 to No. 17 Celia-Belle Mohr to tie the match at one all. The two teams didn’t stay tied up for long as No. 64 Sara Dahlstrom posted a straight set victory knocking off Valeria Ray 6-3, 6-2 to regain the Florida advantage at 2-1.
No. 86 Carly Briggs extended the Gators lead to 3-1 after defeating Aneesa Lee in two sets. Briggs was initially challenged as Lee took her to a first set tiebreaker. Briggs and Lee were tied up at 5-5 before Briggs pulled ahead to claim the first set 7-6 (7-5). The momentum from Carly Briggs carried over to the second set as she took it 6-3 over Aneesa Lee.
With three courts still out, Florida needed one more point over the Commodores to claim the victory in Nashville. It was freshman powerhouse Qavia Lopez who was able to get it done for Florida after an incredible effort on court five. Lopez saw a fierce competitor in Amy Stevens falling 6-2 in the first set before digging deep to initiate a comeback win. Lopez saw herself in a familiar position, down 4-2 to Stevens in the second, but Lopez was up for the challenge winning three games straight to garner a 5-4 lead before heading to a tiebreaker. Lopez and Stevens went back and forth before Lopez came out on top at 7-6 (7-5) to force a third set.
In the final set, Lopez found herself trailing yet again at 2-0. Although losing the first two games of the third, Lopez continued to push forward for the Gators ultimately closing out 6-3. With a 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 victory over Stevens, Qavia Lopez clinched the match for Florida to give the team its thirteenth win of the season (13-7, 9-2 SEC).
Florida and Vanderbilt agreed to play out the final two matches with the Commodores coming out ahead on both courts. Holly Staff defeated Alicia Dudeney 7-6 (7-5), 0-6, 6-2 and Sonya Macavei defeated Malwina Rowinska 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4.
HEAD COACH ROLAND THORNQVIST SAID:
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist on Qavia Lopez’s performance against Vanderbilt:
“I’m really proud of Qavia. I was impressed with the Vanderbilt player at the end of the second set, because we had some chances to close it out and I could tell Qavia was a little hurt in the changeover but I was really proud of how she regrouped. She was able to continue to play at a high level and she just stayed with it. I was really, really, really happy and proud to see that she was able to finish because the other kid didn’t dip in her performance so we had to be clinical in our finishing and to her credit Qavia was really good at the end.”
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist on Florida’s continued success in doubles play:
“What’s so nice now for all of our players is that we can win from all three doubles spots at any given time. So, if one team doesn’t play at the top of their game there are now two other teams that get the job done. Now we seem much more resilient from the start of doubles which echoes throughout the entire match and that’s a really nice feeling to have.”
NEXT UP:
The Gators will travel to Lexington and face No. 64 Kentucky on Sunday at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. The Wildcats moved to an 8-11, 2-8 SEC record after falling 4-0 on Friday evening against South Carolina.
ITA RANKINGS
Florida finds itself ranked No. 13 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association rankings. Four Gators are ranked in singles competition: Rachel Gailis<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/rachel-gailis/16143> at No. 13 , Sara Dahlstrom at No. 64, Carly Briggs<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/carly-briggs/16139> at No. 86, and Qavia Lopez ranks at No. 119. Doubles pair Malwina Rowinska and Alicia Dudeney also cracked into the ITA rankings at No. 30.
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