No. 115 Qavia Lopez initiated the week with a doubles win in Nashville alongside No. 80 Carly Briggs. Lopez and Briggs defeated No. 69 Valeria Ray and Holly Staff 6-2 to tally their first victory over a ranked pair.
The duo carried their momentum into Sunday’s contest against Kentucky’s Ellie Eades and Zoe Hammond. Briggs and Lopez boasted a 6-4 comeback win to clinch the doubles point for Florida and give them a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
The dynamic freshman was also vital in the singles category for Florida, clinching the Gators’ 4-3 win over Vanderbilt with a battle in singles. Lopez saw a fierce competitor in Amy Stevens in a three-set battle. Lopez took the first set 6-2, but the match began to shift and quickly she found herself down 4-2 to Stevens in the second. Lopez was up for the challenge winning three consecutive games to garner a 5-4 lead before heading to a tiebreaker at 6-6. Lopez ultimately fell 7-6 (7-5) in the second set forcing a third.
In the final set, Lopez was trailing 2-0 but she was determined to take the win for Florida and won three consecutive games to take the lead at 3-2. From there Lopez dominated and eventually closed out the third 6-3. With a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory over Stevens, Qavia Lopez clinched the match for the Gators and gave Florida its eighth consecutive win.
Qavia Lopez’s second singles contest of the week was a quick straight-set win to defeat Kentucky’s Ellie Myers. After winning the first set 6-3, Lopez held the lead over Myers for the entirety of the second set and blank her at 6-0. With Lopez’s continued success, the freshman has moved up four spots in the ITA rankings to claim No. 115.
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