Beating a top 10 team on the road is a difficult task in itself. Having to do so with only five players, despite needing a minimum of six for a complete dual match, is even tougher.
Florida has been plagued by injuries all season, and the same theme applied to its dual match on Sunday at No. 10 Oklahoma. Freshman Nikola Daubnerova was a known scratch from the competition, as she has been on a boot and scooter on the sideline for every UF match since March 20. Then, when the lineups for doubles and singles were announced, it was revealed that senior Alicia Dudeney also wouldn’t participate in the match, with the reason remaining undisclosed.
These injuries put Florida in a tough situation, cutting its active roster for the match to five players. Therefore, only two doubles matches occurred, meaning that in order to secure the doubles point, either school had to win only one match. For singles, Florida’s inability to fill all six courts meant that Oklahoma would automatically receive a singles point.
The challenges that Florida faced in Sunday’s dual match against Oklahoma proved to be too much, as the Gators were swept by the Sooners 4-0.
“We’re really beat up as a team,” UF head coach Per Nilsson said. “We’ve got a bunch of people on the sideline unable to compete.”
The Gators came into Sunday having already experienced plenty of highs and lows. In its last time out, Florida took down Arkansas with ease, securing a 6-1 victory at home. However, UF has dropped two of its last three matches and entered the day with a 4-6 record in conference play.
Fresh off a 4-3 upset victory over No. 8 Auburn at home on Friday, Oklahoma came into Sunday’s match in great form. OU head coach Audra Cohen and her team entered the day with an overall record of 13-5 with a 6-4 record in conference play and five wins in its last seven contests.
The Sooners took care of business early in doubles on court one, where senior Alina Shcherbinina and junior Julia Garcia Ruiz took on Florida’s freshman pair of Noémie Oliveras and Talia Neilson-Gatenby. The OU upperclassmen took an early 2-0 lead and kept riding their momentum from then on out to take down the Florida freshman 6-1 and secure the doubles point.
Oklahoma led 2-0 due to the aforementioned injuries and according adjustments to the match set-up.
The home team extended its lead to 3-0 on court five, where Florida’s walk-on freshman Reagan Parker faced senior Ava Catanzarite. After taking the first set with ease 6-0, Catanzarite cruised to a 6-2 win in the second set and secured a straight sets victory. The defeat marked Parker’s fourth-straight loss in singles, all of which came by way of straight sets to conference opponents.
Oklahoma clinched the victory on court four, where senior Emma Staker took on Oliveras. Staker, the No. 70 singles player in the country, came away with a swift straight sets victory, defeating Oliveras 6-2, 6-5. This result marks Oliveras’ third singles loss in her last four conference matches.
The Gators are now 8-9 on the year and will continue their road trip on Friday against Tennessee.
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.
