All eyes were on court three with a three-match winning streak on the line. Despite trailing 3-0 at one point, Florida had crawled back to tie its dual match with Missouri.
The dual meet was decided by Florida freshman Talia Neilson-Gatenby and Missouri graduate student Lailaa Bashir’s singles match. Neilson-Gatenby dropped the first set 6-3, but made things more competitive in the second set.
With Florida winning three singles matches, momentum was on its side, and Neilson-Gatenby could feel it as she led 6-5 at one point in the second set. However, Bashir’s experience proved invaluable, as she won a tiebreaker to lead MIssouri to a 4-3 victory on the road and win its second conference match of the season. The night ended with celebration at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, but for the visitors.
The Gators’s aforementioned three-match winning streak included two conference victories as they had seemingly turned their season around. At one point, head coach Per Nilsson’s team fell to No. 61 in the ITA rankings, but have since climbed up 39 spots in two weeks to No. 22. During this time, junior Rachel Gailis moved up to No. 39 in singles, and senior Alicia Dudeney made her first appearance in the ITA singles rankings at No. 91.
Last time out, the Gators took on Morgan State at home on Thursday, where they secured a comfortable 5-2 victory despite Gailis sitting out and newcomer walk-on freshman Reagan Parker filling in.
Missouri had been struggling before Friday’s meet in Gainesville. The Tigers dropped four consecutive matches en route to a 1-6 record in conference play. Last time out, Bianca Turati’s team lost to then-No. 13 Texas 6-1 at home, with its one point coming from freshman Korina Roso in singles on court five.
The Gators were off to a strong start, taking care of business on court one. Florida’s No. 60 senior pair of Dudeney and Bente Spee took on Missouri’s Roso and senior Macy Brumfield 6-1. The Florida pair built on an early 5-0 lead and later prevailed 6-1 for its fourth consecutive victory.
Missouri crawled back into the contest with senior Inah Canete and junior Andrea Artimedi taking down Florida’s Gailis and Parker with ease, 6-0, on court three.
Missouri secured the doubles point on court two. Florida freshman Talia Neilson-Gatenby and freshman Noémie Oliveras got off to a quick 2-0 lead, but MU’s Bashir and freshman Zoe Lazar tied things up at three. The Tiger pair won the following three games to defeat the Gator pair 6-3.
Missouri rode its momentum onto court six, where Artimendi defeated Parker in straight sets 6-0, 6-0. The result marks Parker's first loss since joining the Gators as a walk-on.
The Tigers extended their lead to 3-0 on court five. Roso took the first set 6-2 against Daubnerova. After the Florida freshman tied the second set 3-3, Roso won the following three games to secure the second set 6-3.
Florida secured its first point of the day with Spee. The UF senior took on Lzar on court four and took the first set 6-0. Spee took an early 5-0 lead in the second set, but Lazar fought back to win the next three games. The Florida senior from the Netherlands eventually won the set 6-3.
On court two, No. 91 Dudeney took the first set 6-3 over Canete and later cruised in the second set 6-1 for a straight sets victory. With this result, Dudeney extended her singles winning streak to four matches and cut Florida's deficit to 3-2.
The Gators won their third straight match on court one where Gailis faced Brumfield. After a competitive first set that went in Gailis’ favor 7–5, the Florida junior won the second set 6-4 to clinch a straight sets victory. This result marks the fourth-straight singles victory on the season for the No. 39 individual player in the country.
As mentioned earlier, Missouri stopped Florida’s rush and secured a 4-3 victory on court three, where Bashir defeated Neilson-Gatenby in straight sets 6-3, 7-6.
The Gators are now 7-7 on the year and will look to bounce back against No. 15 Vanderbilt at home on Sunday.
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.
