After defeating Alabama in walk-off fashion, Florida’s 2025 SEC Tournament run came to an end on Thursday following a second-round collapse to No. 13 Vanderbilt.
The Gators were dominated in Thursday’s match from start to finish. In doubles, Florida went 0-2 and lost 17 of the 26 completed games. However, this one-sided affair proved to be much more severe in singles.
Senior Alicia Dudeney was the only UF player to win the first set in singles match, with her victory coming by way of a tiebreaker. Overall, in singles, the Gators lost seven of the eight completed sets, with five of the seven defeats decided by three games or more.
Vanderbilt’s dominance on Thursday resulted in Florida getting swept 4-0 in the second round of the 2025 SEC Tournament in Auburn, Alabama. The Commodores move on to the third round to play tournament hosts No. 6 Auburn on Friday, April 18, while the Gators head home and wait for Selection Day to see if they qualify for the 2025 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships.
The two squads last met on March 23 in Gainesville, where the Commodores defeated the Gators 5-2. Despite UF junior Rachel Gailis and Dudeney winning their singles matches, Per Nilsson’s team came up short, partly due to injury troubles. Freshman Talia Nelson-Gatenby retired from her match on court three and freshman Nikola Daubnerova did not participate in the match, both due to undisclosed injuries.
To start Thursday’s contest, Vanderbilt took the opening point in the first two doubles matches.
The Commodores won their first doubles match on court three, where junior Sonya Macavei and senior Amy Stevens took on Florida’s freshman pair of Neilson-Gatenby and Noémie Oliveras. The match was tight at first, with things knotted up at two, but the Vanderbilt pair took the next three games to take a 5-2 lead. Despite their efforts, the UF freshmen fell short 6-3, just as they did in last March’s matchup between the two pairs.
To clinch the doubles point, Vanderbilt’s No. 14 pair of senior Celia-Belle Mohr and freshman Sophia Webster defeated Florida’s senior duo of Dudeney and Bente Spee. Despite the Gators’ No. 22 pair taking a 4-3 lead, the Commodores came out on top, winning the following three games to secure a 6-4 victory on court one and marking the second time this season that the Dudeney/Spee pair lost to Mohr/Webster.
It did not take long for Tsoubanos’ team to double its lead. On court six, Macavei dominated the first set against Oliveras 6-0, resulting in the Florida freshman retiring from the match. This result extends Oliveras’ singles losing streak to six completed games.
The Commodores extended their lead to three points on court one, where No. 10 Mohr faced Florida’s No. 30 Gailis. In March 2025, the Florida junior defeated Mohr in straight sets, but this time, the two-time ITA All-American earned her revenge. After taking the first set 6-1 with ease, Mohr won the second set 6-2 to secure a straight-sets victory.
Vanderbilt punched its ticket to the next round on court three, where No. 52 Stammel defeated Neilson-Gatenby in straight sets. After taking the first set 6-4, Stammel took a commanding 5-2 lead in the second set. Neilson-Gatneby attempted a comeback, winning the next two games, but ultimately, the Vanderbilt junior won the second set 6-4, completing the 4-0 sweep of Florida.
The Gators are now 9-14 on the year and will head back to Gainesville as they await Selection Day for the 2025 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championships on April 28 at 5 p.m.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Summer 2025 women's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
