Florida freshman Qavia Lopez is no stranger to pressure, and the Gators’ SEC Tournament hopes rested on her racquet on Friday morning.
The former No. 1 overall recruit and three-time SEC Freshman of the Week faced off with South Carolina junior Olympe Lancelot on Court 5 in a bout that ultimately decided which squad would advance to the SEC Tournament semifinals.
Lopez took the first set 6-3, before Lancelot stormed back to win the second set 6-4. By the time the match had reached its ultimate set, the overall match was even at 3-all.
Lancelot took a 3-2 lead in the set, before No. 111 Lopez kicked into gear, winning the next four games to win the match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.
Lopez’s victory was the decider in the No. 3-seed Gators (16-7, 11-2 SEC) 4-3 victory over No. 6-seed South Carolina (17-6, 8-5 SEC), which advanced Florida to the SEC Tournament semifinals.
It was No. 14 Florida’s 11th-straight win, and was the 33rd time in program history that UF has advanced to at least the SEC Tournament semifinals.
The Gators came out strong in doubles play, where they dominated the Gamecocks to win their 10th-straight doubles point in conference play.
On Court 3, Florida’s pair of sophomore Rachel Gailis and junior Bente Spee made quick work of South Carolina’s team of juniors Misa Malkin and Lancelot 6-1.
The win was Gailis and Spee’s sixth-straight as a team.
Florida then secured the doubles point on Court 2, where the team of graduate student Carly Briggs and Lopez bested South Carolina’s pair of graduate students Elise Mills and Shahar Biran 6-2.
Heading into singles, the Gamecocks made two changes to their lineup, moving Hamner up to Court 1, while placing Lancelot on Court 5.
Singles action was back-and-forth, and ultimately, came down to the wire on Court 5.
The first UF singles point of the day came on Court 3, where No. 68 Briggs grabbed a straight-set victory over South Carolina’s Biran 7-5, 6-0.
It was Briggs’ seventh-straight singles win, and her second straight-set victory over Biran this week.
The Gamecocks responded quickly on Court 4, as Mills overwhelmed Dudeney 6-4, to give South Carolina its first point of the day.
South Carolina continued their momentum on Court 2, where No. 9 Akli bested Florida’s No. 71 senior Sara Dahlstrom in a competitive 7-5, 7-5 matchup.
The Gators regained their lead when on Court 1, No. 8 Gailis got the better of South Carolina’s No. 16 Hamner in a three-set thriller.
Gailis took the first set 6-4, before Hamner responded in the second set, winning 6-4. In the ultimate set, Gailis rolled, grabbing the set 6-1 and the match victory.
However, South Carolina was not out of it yet, as on Court 6, USC’s Malkin defeated Spee in a competitive bout.
The first set went to a tiebreaker, where Malkin prevailed 12-10 to win the set 7-6. Then, she closed out the matchup with a 6-4 second set victory.
With the two sides even at 3-all, the ultimate victory came from Lopez on Court 5 in her three-set win over South Carolina’s Lancelot.
Only one match in the bout did not finish, which was the Court 1 doubles match between Florida’s No. 50 pair of freshman Malwina Rowinska and Dudeney and South Carolina’s No. 22 team of Akli and Hamner.
The Gamecock pair led Dudeney and Rowinska 5-2 at the time of finish.
Florida will now play in the SEC Semifinals at 11 a.m. on Saturday against the winner of Friday’s match between 2-seed Texas A&M and 7-seed Vanderbilt.
Contact Max Bernstein at mbernstein@alligator.org. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.
