You can never have enough experience on the tennis court, and Florida graduate student Carly Briggs proves that.
The former Tennessee transfer is now well into her third year at UF, where she has firmly established herself as one of the team’s leaders.
Briggs, who has moved all over Florida’s singles lineup, slotted in at Court 2 Friday evening.
There, she made quick work of Mississippi State junior Maria Rizzolo in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.
Briggs’ win was the second point in the No. 14 Gators (11-7, 7-2 SEC) 4-0 win over Mississippi State (10-11, 0-8 SEC).
It was Florida’s sixth straight victory, the second-longest current winning streak in the SEC.
In doubles, UF came out of the gate strong, capturing its fifth straight doubles point.
On Court 2, Florida's pair of freshmen Qavia Lopez and Briggs continued their momentum, defeating Mississippi State’s duo of freshmen Jayna Clemens and Rizzolo 6-2.
The win continued Lopez and Briggs’ undefeated run as a team, improving their doubles record to 4-0.
The Gators then won the doubles point through the efforts of their other undefeated pair, junior Alicia Dudeney and freshman Malwina Rowinska.
The Florida duo defeated Mississippi State’s team of freshman Athina Pitta and graduate student Alexandra Mikhailuk on Court 1. The win also moved them to 4-0 on the season as a pair.
The Gators continued to dominate in singles play, where they took the first set on five of the six courts.
Briggs earned Florida’s second point of the day with her Court 2 victory over Rizzola, which was her fourth win in her last five matches.
Then, Lopez pulled the Gators one point away from the win with her 6-2, 6-1 victory over Mississippi State’s Pitta.
Dudeney then clinched Florida the victory with a straight-set win over Mississippi State senior Chloe Cirotte 6-2, 6-3.
With the match finishing 4-0, one doubles match and three singles matches did not have a chance to finish.
The doubles match on Court 3 between Florida’s team of sophomore Rachel Gailis and junior Bente Spee and Mississippi State’s pair of sophomore Dharani Niroshan and freshman Ava Rath was even 5-5 at the time of finish.
On Court 1, Gailis was one game away from finishing off Mississippi State’s Mikhailuk, as she led 6-1, 5-3 when the match concluded.
On Court 5, Rowinska was up 1-0 on Mississippi State’s Clemens and was leading 7-6, 4-1 at the time of finish.
Florida sophomore Sophie Williams was also in action on Court 6 in just her third singles match of the season.
She dropped the first set to Mississippi State junior Alessia Tagliente 6-3 but led 4-2 in the second set to finish.
Florida will look to continue its win streak as they host Mississippi at 11 a.m. Sunday.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
