Florida returned to Gainesville after a two game trip in Alabama to face LSU and host its first SEC game of the season.
Doubles was highly contested once again, a trend of their matches this season but the fight from the Gators was not enough as they lost two out of three matchups.
The Tigers started the evening fast with the team of Safiya Carrington and Maggie Cubitt winning out against Victoria Emma and Sydney Berlin 6-3 early on.
UF did not let this hurt its confidence though with Tsveta Dimitrova and Ida Jarlskog defeating Anna Loughlan and Paris Corley 7-5. The Gators ultimately came up short though due to No. 58 McCartney Kessler and Marlee Zein losing to No. 26 Eden Richardson and Nina Geissler 6-7 (6-8).
Although the team lost the doubles point in dramatic fashion, coach Roland Thornqvist didn’t think this impacted his side that much.
“I'm not that worried about this group being really tired emotionally to the doubles point,” he said. “I think with the Oklahoma win and Alabama match last week, we have shown we can weather in the doubles point storm, if you will. So I'm not concerned with this team having a let down after losing the doubles point.”
The disappointment continued into singles play where Florida only won two of their opening sets. No. 111 Victoria Emma was the first to taste defeat as she fell to Eden Richardson in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Ida Jarlskog gave her team hope, gaining the first point of the day for UF on Court 2, defeating No. 71 Safiya Carrington 6-4, 6-2. Marlee Zein was the next to taste defeat as she lost in straight sets to Nina Geissler 6-4,6-0. Sydney Berlin was to get the last point for UF when she beat Paris Corley on Court 5 6-4, 6-4.
The match was clinched when the highest ranked Gator, No. 54 McCartney Kessler, lost on Court 1 to No. 36 Taylor Bridges 4-6, 2-6. The match up on Court 6 between Hungarian Tsveta Dimitrova and Maggie Cubitt didn’t finish as LSU had already won out but the score was 3-6, 6-6.
The Gators stay home for its next match, playing against No. 36 Texas A&M on Sunday.
You can contact Myles Herbert at mherbert@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @myles_herbert.
