The Florida Gators women’s tennis team entered Lexington, Kentucky, with just two losses to the Wildcats in program history.
It left the Boone Tennis Center with another, and its seventh loss on the season.
No. 31 Florida fell to No. 23 Kentucky 4-3 in the Gators third consecutive top-50 matchup. After starting off strong the Gators failed to close out the match as a team.
"We played decent doubles tonight, but just didn't play Florida tennis in singles,” coach Roland Thornqvist said in a release. “It's simple but you really need to have all six courts fighting together. You have to come together and have everyone fight for something greater than themselves.”
The Gators (7-7, 4-3 SEC) claimed their first doubles point in two matches after victories from duo Ida Jarlskog and Tsveta Dimitrova over UK’s Diana Tkachenko and Tiphanie Fiquet 6-2, while Marlee Zein and Anastasia Kharitonova beat Lesedi Jacobs and Alexis Merrill 6-4. The transfer tandem of Jarlskog and Dimitrova picked up their sixth victory in eight matches.
Florida’s momentum didn’t spill over into singles, however.
Kharitonova won just two games in her match against Tkachenko en route to Kentucky’s first point of the match.
Victoria Emma quickly answered back with her third victory in SEC play. She topped Fiquet 6-3, 6-4 and gave the Gators their second point.
The Wildcats evened the match once more after No. 35 Justina Mikulskyte handed Jarlskog just her third singles loss of the season, defeating the Georgia Tech transfer on Court 1 in straight sets (6-3, 6-4).
Kessler stayed hot in singles and handled Jacobs 6-3, 7-5 to claim her fourth-consecutive win and put the Gators just one point away from a victory.
Florida needed just one freshman to close out the match.
Zein finished off Tennessee on Sunday for her first match-clinching victory in a Gators uniform, but she didn’t find the same result Friday.
Akvile Parazinskaite defeated the Texas native in three sets to tie the match at 3-3 (6-4, 4-6, 6-2). It came down to Sydney Berlin, who filled in for a struggling Dimitrova in singles, and she couldn’t close it out.
The freshman lost her first career SEC match to Anastasia Tkachenko 7-6, 6-4, and it completed Kentucky’s comeback victory over the Gators.
"We are going to have to debrief after this one, but our message going forward is pretty simple,” Thornqvist said. “It's all about fight and desire. We have to be willing to do whatever it takes and do everything we can do to win."
Follow Victor Prieto on Twitter @victorprieto_11 and contact him at vprieto@alligator.org.
Victoria Emma picked up her third singles victory in SEC play in the Gators' 4-3 loss to Kentucky.
