Florida Women’s Tennis Falls to Texas A&M in SEC Tournament Semifinals

The No. 12 Texas A&M Aggies defeated the No. 14 Florida Gators 4-2 in the SEC Tournament semifinals Saturday in Athens, Ga.

The Gators (16-8) had an early lead from a strong doubles performance, but couldn’t hold on when the Aggies (22-6) proved to be too much to handle in singles to snap UF’s 11-match winning streak.

Doubles

The Gators won the doubles point, but Texas A&M didn’t go down easily. Florida had built a lead on every court, but the Aggies fought back and challenged every Florida win.

On Court 1, Alicia Dudeney-Malwina Rowinska were up 3-1 on N0. 3 Mary Stoiana-Mia Kupres. The Gators couldn’t hang on as Stoiana-Kupres took over and won 6-3. Not long after that, Florida got its first win in doubles.

Court 1 takes the first set. Things are heating up 🔥‼️

1⃣Stoiana/Kupres ✅ 6-3
2️⃣Branstine/Khirin ⬇️ 4-5
3️⃣Perez/Mireles ⬇️ 3-4#GigEm // #AggieWT // 📈 https://t.co/SraXCOP6UV pic.twitter.com/vCwAviPzkt

— Texas A&M Women's Tennis (@AggieWTEN) April 20, 2024

The Gators duo of Carly Briggs-Qavio Lopez went up 4-0 to start their match on Court 2 against Carson Branstine-Nicole Khirin. The Aggies went on a run to make it 4-3, but Briggs-Lopez never gave up their lead and won 6-4. This was the duo’s fifth straight win.

All eyes went to Court 3 with the match tied 1-1. When Court 2’s match ended Florida’s Rachel Gailis-Bente Spee were up 4-3. Lucciana Perez-Jeanette Mireles tied the match 4-4 and again at 5-5. From there Gailis-Spee dominated by winning their sixth straight match 7-5 to give the Gators the doubles point.

Gators making a STATEMENT on court 3!

Bente Spee and Rachel Gailis take the doubles win 7-5 and gets the Gators the doubles point 💥#GoGators | 💻 SECN+ pic.twitter.com/WfZsDpqOv4

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) April 20, 2024

Singles

Texas A&M tied the match after the first singles match when No. 1 Stoiana took down Sara Dahlstrom on Court 2, 6-2, 6-0. It wasn’t long after that the Aggies took the lead on Court 5. Perez beat Lopez 6-0, 7-5.

The real pressure was put on Florida after the third match when Kupres beat Dudeney 6-2, 6-2 on Court 4. Texas A&M had a 3-1 lead with the remaining three matches going to a third set.

Two first set wins for the Gators:

🔹Briggs takes her first set 7-5
🔸Spee takes her first set 6-4 #GoGators

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) April 20, 2024

Florida got its second point on Court 3. Briggs defeated No. 19 Khirin 7-5, 6-2, 6-1. This was Briggs’s seventh straight win. In her last 10 matches, she has had eight wins with two going unfinished.

The Aggies won the match on Court 1 when Branstine defeated No. 8 Gailis 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Court 6 went unfinished with Mireles up 4-6, 6-1, 4-2 on Spee.

Battled hard today. #GoGators | Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/fDBU4OSWnY

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) April 20, 2024

Up Next

The Gators are headed back to Gainesville as they get ready for the NCAA Tournament that starts May 3.