UF Women’s Tennis Routs Missouri To Close Regular Season
The Florida Gators routed the Missouri Tigers in their final women’s tennis match of the regular season on Senior Day.
The Gators (15-6, 10-5 SEC) dominated the Tigers (12-17, 0-15) in both singles and doubles Sunday to give their seniors a proper sendoff at the Ring Tennis Complex.
Before the match, the Gators honored seniors India Houghton and Xinyi Nong. They were given plaques and the PA announcer listed their achievements at the college level.
“I was enjoying the moment,” Houghton said. “Playing in front of the crowd here is really special. I have my brother and my mom here today. Playing alongside all these girls is really special, so I’m very grateful to be a Gator.”
Although the final doubles score of 2-1 looked close, all three sets were blowouts. The first to finish were Houghton-Lucie Pawlak on Court 3. They only surrendered a game to Alex Ackman-Zoe Lazar as they took a 6-1 victory.
The Tigers struck back shortly afterward on Court 2. Valery Gynina-Brooke Black were broken in game two by Korina Roso-Andrea Artimedi and couldn’t get even. They were broken again in game eight to close the set 6-2.
Minutes later, the Gators’ top-ranked duo of Nong-Nikola Daubnerova finished a 6-2 victory against Lara Quaglia-Gian Octa on Court One to get the Gators their first point of the day.
After the intermission, the Gators got off to a red-hot start in singles. Houghton, Pawlak and Daubnerova all put up dominant performances. Pawlak and Daubnerova both beat their opponents 6-1. Houghton had a perfect set, beating Octa 6-0.
Both Gabia Paskauskas and Nong put up solid performances in their first set as well. Paskauskas won 6-2 and Nong won 6-3.
While those five sets were decided handily, the battle on Court Two between Gynina and Roso was a nail-biter. The pair split the set’s 12 games 6-6, sending it to a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker was as close as the set. The score sat at 7-7 through 14 games. After Gynina grabbed a crucial point to go up 8-7, Roso double-faulted to give the Gators the sweep in the first set.
The Gators stayed hot in the second set. Neither Pawlak nor Houghton lost a game as they walked away with a pair of 6-0 wins to put the Gators one point shy of their second straight 4-0 victory.
It was Daubnerova who got that final point. She once again dominated in her second set, beating Quaglia 6-1.
“This is close to the best tennis we’ve played all year,” Gators associate head coach Axel Damiens said. “There’s many things we could still improve on, but we’re getting there.”
The Gators stayed on the court for a couple of minutes after the game. They gave gifts to the seniors and gave them one final sendoff.
The Gators hope this won’t be their last competition in Gainesville before the fall. They hope to lock down a NCAA home regional after the SEC tournament next week.
“It would be super special,” Houghton said. “Playing at home is the best. If we could host the first two rounds here it would be very fun.”
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Tennis
