Florida Tennis Starts SEC Play Against Auburn
Florida tennis is ramping up for an exciting Saturday with two games against Auburn which mark the start of SEC play. The men will travel to Alabama to play the Tigers on the road, while the women will stay in Gainesville on their home turf.
Florida’s women’s team is currently unranked with a 4-1 record. Auburn, on the other hand, is No. 13 nationally with a 15-1 record.
Similar to the men’s team, the Gator women’s only loss came against a ranked foe, No. 9 NC State. The Tigers’ only loss also comes against a top team, that being No. 1 Georgia.
Through the first few weeks of this season, Florida has had multiple players stand out, with five among the top 100 players in the nation — No. 23 Gabia Paskauskas, No. 54 Valery Gynina, No. 80 Lucie Pawlak, No. 92 Nikola Daubnerova and No. 97 Xinyi Nong. Daubnerova and Nong are also No. 23 as a doubles team. Freshman Brooke Black was also named SEC Freshman of the Week last week.
While the Gators are 46-4 against Auburn all-time, three of those four losses have come in their last five meetings. Notably, the Gators fell 5-2 to the Tigers last year.
Auburn isn’t a pushover, either. It was picked to finish second in the SEC behind Georgia in the preseason SEC Coaches Poll. It has some stars, too: No. 26 Ashton Bowers, No. 27 Ava Esposito, No. 37 DJ Bennett and No. 95 Angella Okutoyi. It also has three ranked doubles pairs in No. 48 Okutoyi and Esposito, No. 65 Bowers and Bennett and No. 86 Okutoyi and Angela Refaat.
Both of the women’s teams will also be less than a week removed from their last matches when they play each other Saturday.
On the men’s side, the Gators are No. 15 in the country, while the Tigers aren’t ranked. The Gators also got a big win against previously-ranked Clemson during the National Team Indoor Championships on Day 2 despite dropping their first game of the tournament against No. 10 Mississippi State. That victory brought their record to 6-3 early in the spring season.
The Tigers also haven’t looked bad this season. They’re 7-1, also losing against Mississippi State and beating Clemson. One reason for their lower ranking is because they didn’t play in the Indoor Championships, meaning their last match was over two weeks ago.
Florida players have also moved up in the ITA rankings after their showing during the weekend. Their new rankings: No. 29 Henry Jefferson, No. 41 Pablo Perez Ramos, No. 46 Jeremy Jin and No. 93 Adhithya Ganesan. Florida also has two ranked doubles teams, those being No. 10 Tanapatt Nirundorn and Jefferson and No. 89 Jefferson and Lorenzo Claverie.
Auburn, on the other hand, only has three ranked players — No. 56 Amirkhamza Narsidinov, No. 84 Manel Lazaro Juncadella and No. 86 Billy Blaydes. It also only has one ranked duo: No. 20 Billy Blaydes and Freddy Blaydes.
Both games against Auburn will take place at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Florida men’s team will continue SEC play with a match against Georgia in Athens on Monday. The women will be having their last non-conference match against Bethune Cookman at home this Sunday.
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Tennis
