For the second consecutive year, Florida's women had trouble defending their home natatorium against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Last season, UF lost the matchup 100-143, and in the O'Connell Center on Friday, the Gators came up short again.
The 104-137 defeat was the first for UF (3-1, 1-1 Southeastern Conference) this season.
"Overall, we're a little disappointed with the women's performance, but by the same token, that's probably the best team in the country that we were racing, so we know what we are facing and what we need to improve," coach Gregg Troy said.
Troy added that after swimming a close relay to begin the meet, he thought UF could have competed harder before the diving break - against a team that he said was probably the best women's team on paper and the preseason pick to win the NCAA Championships.
"We swam a great first relay (but) we lost a little enthusiasm at that point," Troy said. "Georgia's distance freestylers are outstanding, they're all Olympians, and we knew that coming in. I thought we could've competed a little better than we did."
After talking to the team during the diving break, Troy said he was pleased by the athletes' response.
"We came back, and we raced extremely well the second half of the meet with the same people, so that bodes pretty well for us; they are pretty resilient," Troy said.
On a day when most things didn't go in UF's favor, senior Gemma Spofforth swam well for the Gators. Spofforth finished first in the 200-yard backstroke and took fourth-place in the 200-yard individual medley. She also swam the lead leg of UF's second-place team in the 400-yard medley relay.
"Georgia was on the money today. They were just really outstanding," Spofforth said.
"Maybe we could've gone in with a little more fight, and we could've had more of an emphasis on finishing and getting our hands on the wall first, but hopefully we can rest up and get ready for the next time we meet them."
On the men's side, behind stand-out performances from junior Conor Dwyer and senior Shaune Fraser, UF toppled Georgia 139-104 and improved to (3-0, 1-0 SEC) on the season.
"For where the team's at in training, we raced well," Dwyer said. "The crowd was really into it and that got us going."
