Florida junior Sara Dahlstrom continues her dominant season with another singles win. She earned her sixth victory of the season and extended her Gators singles win streak to 11 in a row, dating back to April 16, 2022.
The No. 18 Florida Gators (3-1) traveled back to Waco, Texas, to face the Baylor Bears (6-2). The Bears were undefeated at home and coming off a brief two-day rest period after defeating Ole Miss, 4-0.
The meet began with doubles action.
Gators’ freshman Rachel Gailis and sophomore Bente Spee faced off against Baylor sophomores Alina Shcherbinina and Brooke Thompson.
The Florida pair – ranked No. 58 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association — took an early lead and didn’t look back. They led 2-1 after three games and won four of the final six to win 6-3.
Florida sophomore Sophie Williams and senior Emma Shelton were up next.
Williams and Shelton were 3-3 on the year going into the matchup. They faced a Baylor duo yet to pair up this season — sophomores Isabella Harvison and Anita Sahdiieva.
The duos went back and forth and were tied 4-4 after eight games. The Gators pair fought to win their last two, finishing 6-4, and secured the doubles point.
Florida senior Carly Briggs and sophomore Alicia Dudeney went against the 8-2 doubles pair of Bears senior Paula Barañano and freshman Daniella Dimitrov. Barañano and Dimitrov led 5-3 before the match was halted with the Gators’ doubles-point victory.
The Gators capitalized off their doubles point and nearly swept the singles.
Dahlstrom was the first Gator to secure a point for Florida. She refused to give a game to Barañano and won both sets 6-0.
Thompson was similarly dominated by Florida sophomore Emily De Oliveira. The Gator won her first set, 6-1, and finished assertively with a 6-0 second-set victory. De Oliveira now holds a 3-0 singles record on the season.
The Gators looked to Gailis on court 5, needing just one more win to secure the meet.
Gailis trailed Baylor freshman Danielle Tuhten 4-3 halfway through the opening set and stormed back to win the first frame, 6-4. She quickly led 3-0 in the second and battled back and forth through the rest of the set to win 6-4.
Florida earned its fifth and sixth points of the day from freshman Anastasia Sysoeva and Dudeney. Sysoeva bested Dimitrov in a tiebreaking third set, 4-6, 6-4, 10-3.
Dudeney secured her win versus Sahdiieva in two sets, 7-5, 6-3.
Baylor’s only victory on the day came from sophomore Isabella Harvison. The sophomore earned the win in three sets against Briggs. Harvison won the first set 6-1 and gave Briggs the second set, 1-6. Briggs barely fell in the final set, 7-5, unable to secure the dual-meet sweep.
The Gators will travel back home to face their in-state rival, the Florida State Seminoles, for their first home Spring meet at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex Thursday.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a second-year sports & media major and a writer for women’s tennis at the Alligator. In his free time, he obsesses over his kitten named Pete, updates his Letterboxd and spends way too much money on Lego.
