Facing the only team to beat it at home this season, Florida looked to deliver a statement performance against Auburn in the SEC Championship.
The Gators got the early advantage, snatching the doubles point away from the Tigers. However, singles play proved to be a challenge for Florida.
The No. 6-seed Florida Gators fell 4-1 to the No. 3-seed Auburn Tigers on Friday in Norman, Oklahoma, in the second round of the SEC Championship.
Doubles play opened to the Gators' disadvantage.
India Houghton and Lucie Pawlak couldn't keep up with Auburn’s No. 87 tandem Ashton Bowes and Ekaterina Khairutdinova. The Gator pair could only win two sets, taking a 6-2 loss.
Trying to flip the script, No. 73 Valery Gynina and Brooke Black dominated their match against the No. 18 duo of Angella Okutoyi and Merna Refaat. The Florida duo clinched a 6-3 victory.
On court one, No. 19 Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova sealed the deal. The Gators held off the No. 2 duo of DJ Bennett and Ava Esposito to defeat them 6-4. This is the highest-ranked win of the season for Nong and Daubnerova.
With the doubles point secured, the Gators seemed confident going into singles play.
However, the momentum from doubles was short-lived, as No. 44 Houghton fell 6-3, 6-3 against the No. 23 player in the nation, Bennett. This season, no Florida player has been able to defeat Bennett, as Gynina fell 6-3, 6-3 to the Tiger last time out.
Florida junior No. 51 Gynina had a similar fate in her match against No. 28 Khairutdinova, as the Gator lost the first set tie break and ultimately took a 7-6, 6-1 loss.
On court four, Black fought hard in a three-set battle. The Florida freshman took the first set in a clean 6-1, but failed to dominate in the second set and fell 6-3. Black didn't let go easy, losing the third set 6-4.
To end the match, Daubnerova fell in a three-set 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 challenge against No. 64 Esposito.
Taking the victory, Auburn moves on to the championship semifinals, playing the winner of the No 7-seed Vanderbilt Commodores and the No. 2-seed Texas A&M Aggies.
Next for the Gators, they begin the NCAA tournament on May 1 to commence the first and second rounds.
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.
