Kentucky was looking for its first conference win after starting 0-5 in SEC play, but the Gators had other plans. Florida snapped its three-match streak of losing the doubles point and carried that momentum through the rest of the contest.
The No. 23 Florida Gators (8-3, 3-2 SEC) dominated the Kentucky Wildcats (8-1, 0-5 SEC) 4-0 on Thursday afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Complex.
Florida was hot off a dominant 4-1 win over the No. 30 Ole Miss Rebels. It looked to carry that momentum into doubles after failing to clinch the doubles point against the last three teams it faced.
And the Gators did just that, flipping the script against Kentucky.
“We kind of just went back to simple, just having fun and being on the same page as your partner,” associate coach Axel Damiens said.
The Gators started off strong on the doubles front.
India Houghton and Lucie Pawlak granted Florida the first doubles point. The pair cruised to a 6-2 victory over the Wildcat duo of Elena Molla and Donna Le Roux.
On court one, No. 19 Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova faced a challenging duo, putting up a fight against the top two players in Kentucky, Zoe Hammond and Chenting Zhu. The Gator pair outlasted the Wildcats in a 6-3 contest.
Nong and Daubnerova extended their record to 13-8, leading Florida with the most wins as a pair this season.
The remaining match was retired since Florida secured doubles point. Gator junior Valery Gynina and freshman Brooke Black were down 5-6 in their match against Asuncion Jadue and Reese Sager.
Nonetheless, carrying the hard-fought lead from the doubles point, the Gators confidently stepped into singles play.
No. 26 Daubnerova was the first to shut out the Wildcats. The sophomore looked unbeatable as she finished Kentucky’s Le Roux 6-0, 6-2, earning her sixth singles win in a row.
“I simply found my game,” Daubnerova said. “I didn't let it get to my head too much and I was able to finish the set.”
On court five, everything seemed to go Pawlak’s way in her match against Kentucky’s Jadue. The Gator dominated in the first set, serving an almost perfect 6-1, and was nearly as successful in a second 6-3 set.
The Florida freshman continues to clinch important victories in just her first season on the team.
With the score at 3-0, the Gators needed to win just one more match.
Florida's Paskauskas soon delivered with the decisive victory. The Gator sophomore finished Reese Sager in the first set 6-3 and continued dominance with a 6-4 second-set to give Florida the win.
With the Gators securing the lead, matchplay ended.
The win against Kentucky takes Florida to a 4-2 conference record, the same amount of wins it secured in the entire last season when it went 4-11 in the SEC. The success has fueled the Gators with confidence for the upcoming matches.
“Last time we played a top 10 team at home, we won,” Damiens said. “Theres no reason we can’t do it again.”
The Gators continue matchplay at home this week on Saturday, facing No. 11 Tennessee. First serve against the Wildcats is set for 11:30 a.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.
