Despite battling 40 mph wind gusts and a top-50 team in the country, the Gators stepped into Saturday's home match confident they would secure a victory. After a slow start in doubles, Florida made up for it in singles against Mississippi State.
“We’re finding ways to put four points on the board,” assistant coach Axel Damiens said. “That’s all that matters.”
The No. 15 Florida Gators (11-4, 6-3 SEC) swept past No. 44 Mississippi State (15-6, 3-6 SEC) 4-1 in a Saturday match at home.
Doubles play proved to be a rough start for the Gators.
The pair of India Houghton and Lucie Pawlak found its rhythm against Emma Cohen and Mia Robinson, finishing the Bulldog duo 6-2.
No. 34 Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova struggled against the No. 55 doubles team in the nation, Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and Chiara Di Genova. After a failed attempt to come back, the Gator pair fell 6-4 to the Bulldogs.
Florida’s Valery Gynina and Brooke Black had a rollercoaster of a match against No. 52 Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta. After dominating in the first sets, 4-0, the Gator duo unexpectedly dropped the next four. Florida won the next game to lead, but a double fault by Gynina evened out the match to 5-5. The Bulldogs quickly responded and took a 7-5 victory.
After missing out on the doubles point, the Gators had to go the extra mile in singles.
Black seemed like she knew exactly how to defeat the Bulldogs’ Carolina Troiano. After clinching every important point, the Florida freshman won the match 6-4, 6-3.
Extending the Gators’ lead, Pawlak took a win over Robinson 6-3, 7-5. The freshman Gator continues to find success on the court, taking her win streak to three consecutive matches.
With Florida leading 2-1, the rest of the matches all went to three sets, and winning every point became twice as important.
Gynina seemed unbeatable as she dominated 6-3 in the first set against Mississippi State’s Zinga Ntondele. However, the Florida junior struggled with returns in the second set and dropped 4-6. But Gynina quickly turned it around and finished off the third set, 6-2.
“My mindset is to be a badass,” Gynina said. “If I want to win, I need to be confident.”
To secure the overall victory for Florida, Daubnerova got the win over Pitta in a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 contest.
The Gators travel to Austin, Texas, next to face No. 7 Texas on Thursday. First serve against the Longhorns is set for 3 p.m.
Contact Sofia Alamo at salamo@alligator.org. Follow her on X @alamosofiaa.
Sofia Alamo is a Sports Journalism freshman at UF and the university’s Women’s Tennis beat reporter. Her favorite sports are soccer and tennis, and she aspires to be a sports broadcaster in the future.
