GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators and Aggies went punch-for-punch on Friday evening, but No. 24 Florida wasn’t able to pull-off the upset against No. 2 Texas A&M, falling 5-2 on a windy day at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Comlex.
The Aggies (12-2, 1-0 SEC) got to work quickly, with the No. 10 team of Carson Branstine and Mary Stoiana drawing first blood with a 6-0 victory over Florida’s (5-3, 0-1 SEC) Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee on the top court. Needing momentum to even the doubles point, Carly Briggs and Rachel Gailis, down 2-1 early to No. 34 Salma Ewing and Jayci Goldsmith, pulled in-front 3-2 midway through the match.
Briggs and Gailis eventually extended their lead to 5-3 before Texas A&M battled-back, taking two-straight games to even the competition at five. The Gators’ duo remained composed, breaking the Aggies en route to claiming a 7-5 victory.
All eyes came down to court three where Emily De Oliveira and Sophie Williams found themselves in another tight match. In a back-and-forth affair early, the Orange & Blue found themselves with a 3-2 lead. They continued to fight to a 5-4 edge, earning two match points, but the Aggies’ team of Mia Kupres and Gianna Pielet held on to even the match at five.
The Gators found themselves trailing, love-40, in a game where they trailed in the match, 6-5. Not shying away from the pressure, Florida overcame a triple match-point to tie the match at six and force the tiebreaker. Trailing 6-3 in the tiebreaker, the UF duo would again have to embrace the pressure, rattling-off five-consecutive points to secure the…
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