FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The fourth-seeded and 17th ranked Florida women’s tennis team gave top-seeded and No. 2 Texas A&M all they could handle Saturday in the SEC Semifinals, but ultimately fell 4-2 at the Billingsley Tennis Center, located on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
The matchup with Texas A&M (27-1, 13-0 SEC) came down to the final two courts of singles play. The doubles competition was everything one would expect from two of the top teams in the country duking it out in the SEC Tournament.
Emma Shelton and Sophie Williams started the scoring off for the Gators, winning 6-2 at No. 3 doubles. The duo notched their third win of the dual season together.
The other two doubles matches were locked into back-and-forth battles, with both courts being tied at five-all at the same time before eventually going into tiebreak sets.
At No. 1 doubles, Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee, the No. 21 ranked doubles team in the country, broke their 5-5 tie with four straight points to sneak ahead 6-5. After the Aggies took the next game, the top singles match went to a tiebreaker set. The No. 25 ranked Jayci Goldsmith/Salma Ewing got off to a fast start in the tiebreak set, and would go on to win 7-6 (4) at the top doubles spot.
No. 74 Carly Briggs/Rachel Gailis stayed persistent, forcing a tiebreak set after being down 4-5 and 5-6 during the doubles point. After fighting back all match, the 55th-ranked Aggies duo of Mia Kupres and Mary Stoiana prevailed, winning 7-6 (3) to clinch the point.
The Gators bounced back strong to start singles, winning five first of the first six sets against…
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