The drought was over, and the upset was complete. Coaches and players on Florida ran to freshman Nikola Daubnerova in celebration as she delivered Florida its first SEC victory of the season by upsetting No. 9 Texas in the Gators’ first home game in 40 days.
A tight contest all day, the dual match was tied 3-3 with all eyes on court four, where Daubnerova took on Texas junior Vivian Ovrootsky. The UF freshman took the first set 6-3, but Ovrootsky bounced back to secure the second set 6-4.
“Let’s go Nikki” chants rained from her coaches and teammates as Daubnerova fought to take the third set 6-3.
Daubnerova’s victory on court four secured Florida’s 4-3 upset of No.9 Texas in Friday's dual match in Gainesville. This result marks Florida's first conference win of the season and a strong return to The Swamp after being on the road for 40 days.
Florida came into Friday’s match on a cold streak. Last time out, the Gators were swept by No. 2 Georgia in Athens, Georgia, 4-0, with junior Rachel Gailis missing the match at the lastsecond due to wrist and neck pain.
Last Sunday’s result marked Florida’s third consecutive loss, with its last two coming by way of 4-0 levelings. Head coach Per Nilsson’s team returned to the Sunshine State for its first match since Jan. 26, hungry for its first SEC victory.
Unlike Florida, Texas came into the matchup in much better form. The No. 9 Longhorns were riding two consecutive wins, including a 4-0 victory over the Razorbacks in Austin last Sunday. In their first season in the SEC, the Longhorns and head coach Howard Joffe posted an overall record of 8-4, with a 2-1 record in conference play, before Friday’s match.
In Friday’s portion of doubles, Nilsson took a chance and changed his lineup. For most of the season, Gailis has played on court two with freshman Talia-Neislon-Gatenby, but for this match, Nilsson moved Gailis to court three to play with Daubnerova, while Neilson-Gatenby was paired with freshman Noémie Oliveras.
“We’ve been losing, so we needed to change to something that worked, and today it did,” Nilsson siad.
Gailis had a tough time adjusting to her new doubles pair. The duo lost to freshman Ahston Bowers and junior Ovrootsky 6-3 on court three.
On the other side of the change, Oliveras found success on court two with Neilson-Gatenby. The freshmen pair took on Texas freshman Carmen Herea and redshirt freshman Eszter Meri. The Florida young pair trailed 3-0, but climbed back and won its match 7-5 on court two
When asked about Neilson-Gatenby and Oliveras’ performance, coach Nilsson said, “today, they were unbelievable.”
With the doubles point up for grabs, the pressure was on court one, where UF’s junior Alicia Dudeney and senior Bente Spee took on Texas’ freshmen pair of Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and Slma Drugdova. Dudeney and Spee came away with the 6-3 victory, securing Florida’s first doubles point since their road victory over Georgia Southern on Feb. 9.
On the flip side, Friday was the first time Texas was unable to claim the doubles point since Feb. 8 against Texas A&M.
The Longhorns took the first single point on court six, where Florida’s Oliveras fell to Texas’ Drugdova in straight sets 6-2, 6-0. This result marks the third-straight straight-set defeat in singles for Oliveras.
Texas went on to win its second singles match of the contest on court three, where No. 30 Herea defeated Florida’s Neilson-Gatenby in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Gailis was able to get Florida back into the match by defeating Bowers in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 on court one, despite having to serve underhand due to the same pain in her neck and wrist that kept her out from Sunday’s match in Athens. This victory marked Gailis’ third-straight in singles on court one and tied things up at two.
Dudeney gave Florida a 3-2 advantage on the evening in her matchup on court two against No. 69 Meri. The Florida junior took the first set comfortably 6-2 and was able to ride the momentum to take the second set 6-4.
On court five, Spee took on Kempenaers-Pocz. Spee dropped the back-and-forth first set 7-6 and was unable to fight back, losing the second set 6-2. This result put the Longhorns back into the match with both teams having three points a piece.
Daubneroa defeated Ovrootsky 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 on court four to secure the fourth point for Florida.
This victory comes as a relief for Nilsson, marking his first conference win as Florida women’s tennis head coach.
‘I’m going to the basketball game tomorrow,” Nilsson said. “I’m going to be a lot happier with this win.”
The Gators are now 4-5 and will look to continue their momentum at home on March 9 against No. 3 Texas A&M.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the Spring 2025 women's tennis beat reporter and a first-year journalism sports & media major. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams.
