GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gators Women’s Tennis defeated the No. 9 Texas Longhorns 4-3 on Friday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. The victory is the first SEC win for Gators Head Coach Per Nilsson.
 
How it Happened
The Gators picked up their first doubles point of conference play, staging a court two comeback to grab a 1-0 start to the dual.
 
On court one, Florida’s duo of Alicia Dudeny and Bente Spee kicked late during their set, winning three-straight games to finish a 6-3 win. On court two, the Gators’ Talia Neilson-Gatenby and Noemie Oliveras tandem quickly fell behind 3-0 to open their set, before storming back to a 4-4 score. They delivered a crucial break point in the 11^th game to take a 6-5 advantage, and held serve to finish off a 7-5 set win.
 
In singles play, the early momentum turned sharply in favor of the Longhorns, who made quick work of courts six and three, giving them a 2-1 lead in the dual.
 
Rachel Gailis, making her return to the court after missing the Gators’ contest against Georgia, didn’t miss a step in her 6-2, 6-2 victory. She did not trail in either set at any point, and her dominant win re-tied the dual at two points apiece.
 
Alicia Dudeney picked up her team-leading third ranked win of the season, defeating Texas’ No. 69 Eszter Meri by a 6-2, 6-4 score. After a quick win of set one, she trailed 4-3 in her second set before collecting three-straight games to win, just as she and Spee had done in doubles.
 
The Gators led 3-2 in the dual as set three began between Daubnerova and the Longhorns’ Vivian Ovrootsky on court four. Set one had been a comfortable win for the Gator freshman, 6-3, before faltering late in set two after an early lead, dropping the set 6-4. Ovrootsky took a 3-2 advantage in the final set, when an overturned call awarded Daubernova the sixth game and an even 3-3 set. Daubernova held the momentum, and won each of the last three games to secure the 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 match win and the 4-3 victory for the Gators.
 
Up Next

The Gators return to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex this Sunday at noon to square off with the No. 3 Texas A&M Aggies.
 
Results
Doubles
Ct. 1: Dudeney/Spee (UF) def. Kempenaers-Pocz/Drugdova (UT), 6-3
Ct. 2: Neilson-Gatenby/Oliveras (UF) def. Herea/Meri (UT), 7-5
Ct. 3: Bowers/Ovrootsky (UT) def. Gailis/Daubnerova (UF), 6-3
O.O.F: 3,1,2
 
Singles
Ct. 1: #50 Rachel Gailis (UF) def. Ashton Bowers (UT) 6-2, 6-2
Ct. 2: Alicia Dudeney (UF) def. #69 Eszter Meri (UT) 6-2, 6-4
Ct. 3: #30 Carmen Herea (UT) def. Talia Neilson-Gatenby (UF) 6-1, 6-2
Ct. 4: Nikola Daubnerova (UF) def. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Ct. 5: Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz (UT) def. Bente Spee (UF) 7-6 [3], 6-2
Ct. 6: Salma Drugdova (UT) def. Noemie Oliveras (UF) 6-2, 6-0
O.O.F: 6, 3, 1, 2, 5, 4