ATHENS, Ga. – With three courts playing in their third set, the Florida women’s tennis team was still very much within striking distance during Sunday’s match at No. 5 Georgia, but ultimately fell 4-1 to one of the nation’s top teams.
Florida (13-6, 7-4 SEC) dropped the doubles point to Georgia (17-4, 10-1 SEC) and played in a deficit early on the road.
After falling initially, the 54th-ranked doubles duo of Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee stormed back at No. 1 doubles, winning five of the next six games to secure a 6-4 victory.
Georgia’s No. 2 doubles team of Mell Reasco/Meg Kowalski, ranked No. 50 in the ITA rankings, evened up the doubles session with a 6-4 win over the Gators tandem of Carly Briggs/Rachel Gailis. The Bulldogs would take the early point after a win by No. 40 Guillermina Grant/Mai Nirundorn on No. 3 doubles, racing back from an early 3-0 deficit to fend off Emma Shelton/Sophie Williams.
After Bulldog straight-set wins at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, freshman Rachel Gailis made quick work on court four, winning 6-0, 6-3 to put the Gators on the scoreboard. Gailis posted her fifth-consecutive singles win headed into the final two matches of the regular season.
Briggs put up a fight against the No. 9 ranked Dasha Vidmanova, winning the first set 6-4. The senior Briggs had match point late in the second set, but couldn’t fend off Vidmanova, as the top-10 player in the country forced a third set. The highly contested match on court two would go unfinished after being tied 1-1 in the final set.
Dudeney and Spee, the Gators’ No. 1 doubles team, both secured leads in their singles matches….
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