The Alfred A. Ring Complex felt tense on Saturday afternoon, with cheers for the Gators and the Tigers echoing from the crowd.
Florida was determined to dominate the first conference match of the season after securing back-to-back wins last weekend against Troy and Louisiana. However, the No. 14 Tigers posed too great a challenge for the Gators, ultimately taking them down 5-2.
Coming into the match in Gainesville, Auburn carried a 15-1 season record, with its only loss against the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs at the ITA Indoor Championship semifinals. The last matchup between the Gators and the Tigers ended the same way, 5-2.
“Losses hurt, and they should hurt,” Florida head coach Per Nilsson said. “Hopefully we'll be able to see what these good teams do to us in big moments.”
The Gators opened doubles play confidently, but they couldn't keep up with the quickness of the Tigers.
For the first time in the 2026 season, the pair of Valery Gynina and Brooke Black fell in doubles. The Gators fought hard against Auburn’s Angella Okutoyi and Merna Reefat, but had the match cut short, ending 5-4. Gynina struggled with unforced errors, especially in the second set, dimming her confidence throughout the match.
Florida’s No. 23 pair of Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova fell to Auburn’s Ava Esposito and DJ Bennett in a 6-3 contest. Daubnerova is the only player on this season's roster to have played Esposito before, falling 6-2 in doubles in their last meeting.
The doubles team of graduate student India Houghton and freshman Lucie Pawlak faced a difficult opponent, losing to Tigers Ekaterina Khairutdinova and Ashton Bower, 6-3.
After the challenging doubles matches, singles play continued to uncover some of the Gators early-season weaknesses.
On court six, Nong struggled against opponent Esposito, falling 6-3, 6-0 to the Tiger. However, Black secured the first victory of the day for the Gators, defeating Refaat 6-4, 6-2.
Florida’s No. 23 Paskauskas followed with a second win, going 6-0, 6-4 in dominant fashion against Auburn's Okutoyi.
“Probably one of Gabia’s best wins in college,” Nilsson said.
The victories tied the Gators and the Tigers 2-2, giving Florida an ounce of hope to power through.
Despite a dominant start in the first games, Pawlak couldn't keep up with Bowers, falling 6-4, 6-4 after putting up a fight.
With two matches left, all eyes were on court one, where Florida’s Gynina and Auburn’s Bennett faced off. The Tiger senior made program history in the pre-season, being the first player to reach the ITA No. 1 singles ranking. Gynina kept Bennett from securing the win in the last games.
“I think it's pretty good experience to play against big teams and big opponents,” Gynina said. “I have a lot of lessons from it.”
The Gators continue home play, facing Bethune-Cookman on Sunday. First serve is set for 1 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.
