After only 10 minutes had passed in the match, Florida fans at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center became silent.
The Gators fell behind 1-0 on all three doubles courts. However, this did not last for long as the doubles team of Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan, as well as Anna Danilina and Ingrid Neel, began to find a rhythm, coming back in a trying doubles match to win 6-3 and 6-2, respectively.
This gave the Gators the doubles point and helped them advance to 6-0 after blanking No. 6 Georgia 4-0 Sunday. With the win, the No. 1 Gators will move forward to the National Indoor finals against No. 2 North Carolina on Monday.
While Florida rallied after a cold start in doubles, singles play proved to be difficult for the Gators as both Belinda Woolcock and Neel went to tiebreaker sets within their matches. Danilina faced the toughest fight of the day, going down 6-1 in the first set against Georgia’s Kennedy Shaffer. She fought back in the second set to win 6-4, and the final set was tied 3-3 when the match ended.
Going deep in sets was a trend all weekend after Florida opened the tournament against No. 13 Michigan on Friday. For the first and only time this season, the Gators fell behind early as they lost the doubles point. However, Florida recovered and won the match 4-1.
The team found its groove, however, on Saturday with a 4-1 win against No. 12 Texas Tech. After winning the doubles point, Neel and Woolcock had quick, decisive victories, winning 6-0, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-3.
Florida will get more tough competition this weekend, hosting No. 5 Oklahoma State on Saturday and No. 4 Stanford on Sunday.
Contact Spencer Thompson at sthompson@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @spencemthompson.
UF's Anna Danilina returns a ball during Florida's 6-1 win over USF on Jan. 27, 2016, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
