The Gators’ victory seemed inevitable early in their match against the Eagles. Florida took a quick lead and refused to lose a single matchup.
The No.15 Florida Gators (5-1) hosted the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles (7-3) in the first-ever meeting between the schools. The Gators swept the Eagles 6-0 to win their third-straight match.
Florida senior Carly Briggs and sophomore Alicia Dudeney earned the Gators’ first doubles point against FGCU seniors Emma Bardet and Ida Ferding on Court 1. UF’s duo took a 3-0 lead and never looked back. They captured an impressive 6-2 win.
Gators freshman Rachel Gailis and senior Emma Shelton closed the door in a similar fashion. They overcame Eagles senior Alba Retortillo and junior Jordana Ossa on Court 2 with a 6-2 win to secure the doubles point.
Florida junior Sara Dahlstrom and sophomore Bente Spee added to the Gators’ doubles wins with a 7-6(4) victory on Court 3.
UF only needed three singles wins with the doubles point in its possession.
Florida sophomore Emily De Oliveira earned the team’s first victory in commanding fashion. She dominated FGCU sophomore Gabriela Macias 6-0 in both sets to earn the win. The win extended De Oliveira’s streak to twelve consecutive singles victories.
Gailis defeated Ossa shortly thereafter. She won the first set 6-0 and nearly swept Ossa in the second, winning 6-1.
The Gators needed one more singles victory as they turned to Dudeney on Court 3.
She faced Eagles sophomore Isabella Colmenares, who earned Atlantic Sun Conference Women’s Tennis Player of the Week last week. Dudeney swiftly rose above her opponent despite the recent accolade.
She won 6-0, in the first set and 6-2 in the second to secure Florida’s win. The three remaining Gators won each of their matchups.
No. 61-ranked Briggs faced Bardet in singles and won 6-4, 6-2. UF freshman Anastasia Sysoeva defeated Ferding, 6-1, 7-5. No. 83-ranked Dahlstrom completed the sweep and defeated junior Fanny Norin, 6-2, 4-1.
Florida will stay at home to host the No. 25 Pepperdine Waves at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex at 5 p.m. Friday.
Contact Luke Adragna at ladragna@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @lukeadrag.
Luke Adragna is a third-year journalism student and the Florida Gators football reporter at The Alligator. He is a cat ethusiast and completes the NYT Daily Mini in less than a minute each day.
