Gators women’s tennis will conclude its 2024 regular season on Saturday afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. Florida will take on the South Carolina Gamecocks in search for its 15th victory of the season.
GAINESVILLE, FL. – No. 13 Florida will host No. 18 South Carolina Saturday afternoon in the final regular season match of the 2024 season. The match is set to begin at 11 a.m. on the Gators’ home courts at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida will enter Saturday’s match with a 14-7 record. Florida moved to a 10-2 SEC record after defeating Vanderbilt and Kentucky last weekend on the road, extending the Gators’ win streak to nine.
GATOR SUCCESS
No. 11 Rachel Gailis<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/rachel-gailis/16143> (19-5, 8-2 SEC) has recorded the most victories against nationally ranked opponents this season with three top-30 wins. Gailis has defeated No. 29 Dasha Vidmanova, No. 27 Sofia Cabezas and her highest ranked win over No. 14 Carolyn Ansari.
No. 115 Qavia Lopez continues to tally points for the Gators, going undefeated last weekend at Vanderbilt and Kentucky. Lopez posted two doubles wins with partner Carly Briggs and two victories on the singles side. Lopez was also named SEC Freshman of the week Wednesday afternoon, marking her second conference recognition of the 2024 season.
Florida’s doubles pairings have proven to be reliable as the Gators recently secured its ninth-consecutive doubles point over its opponents. Duo Alicia Dudeney and Malwina Rowinska have gone undefeated in SEC action with a 5-0 record, Carly Briggs and Qavia Lopez hold a 6-1 record, and partners Rachel Gailis and Bente Spee are on a four-match win streak with an overall 5-1 record.
ABOUT SOUTH CAROLINA
The South Carolina Gamecocks moved to a 16-5 overall and 8-4 conference record after posting a 4-3 win on Sunday against No. 27 Vanderbilt. Ahead of Saturday’s match, No. 18 South Carolina has two ranked players in singles and two ranked doubles pairs.
South Carolina’s Ayana Akil is the seventh nationally ranked singles player with a 6-3 SEC record. Akil is 12-9 against other nationally ranked opponents and is coming off a loss.
Sarah Hamner closes out the ranked singles players for the Gamecocks. Hamner sits at the No. 16 spot with a 9-1 SEC record and has won 15 matches against nationally ranked opponents. Hamner is currently on a 9-match win streak.
On the doubles side, Akil and Hamner taking No. 21. The duo is 6-3 in conference action and 5-6 against other ranked doubles pairs. Akil and Hamner are on a 4-math win streak after posting a 6-2 win against then No. 25 Anessa Lee and Celia-Belle Mohr (Vanderbilt).
Akil is also shares the No. 61 spot with doubles partner Olympe Lancelot. The duo is 7-2 overall but has not competed as a pair since the start of conference play.
LAST TIME OUT
The Gators last outing against Kentucky was a 4-0 shutout win in Lexington. UF snagged the doubles point with duo Rachel Gailis and Bente Spee taking the first win blanking Ellie Myers and Julia Zhu 6-0. Carly Briggs and Qavia Lopez secured the point for the Gators in a comeback effort after trailing 4-3. The pair rallied to clinch a 6-4 win against Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond.
Moving into singles action 1-0, Florida kept their momentum going. Carly Briggs<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/carly-briggs/16139> snagged the first singles win against Ellie Eades in a 6-2, 6-0 straight set effort. Qavia Lopez followed suit with a straight set victory of her own. Lopez defeated Ellie Myers 6-3, 6-0 and pulled Florida away 3-0.
The match ending point came from Alicia Dudeney on Court four. Dudeney faced Julia Zhu and took the first set 6-4. Dudeney secured the win for the Gators with a 6-0 shutout victory in the second set.
MATCH COVERAGE
Full coverage of this match can be found through the following links:
Live Stream<https://floridagators.com/sports/2018/3/9/tennis-women-live-video-stats.aspx>
Live Stats<https://sidearmstats.com/florida/wten/>
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. 11 , Sara Dahlstrom at No. 65, Carly Briggs<https://floridagators.com/sports/womens-tennis/roster/carly-briggs/16139> at No. 80, and Qavia Lopez ranks at No. 115. Doubles pair Malwina Rowinska and Alicia Dudeney have also been slated into the ITA ranking at No. 45.
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