Weather, back-and-forth matches and limited court availability resulted in a nearly four-and-a-half hour long contest between Florida and Kentucky.
Collegiate tennis matches are expected to last about three hours, which explains why Kentucky scheduled a second match on Sunday against Bellarmine just four hours after its match against Florida. However, the contest against the Gators went far longer than expected.
This week, most of the Midwest and Southern United States have experienced severe weather, which was also the case in Lexington. The dual match between the Gators and Wildcats was played indoors due to the inclement weather and flood warning that the National Weather Service issued for the area.
Kentucky’s facility had four indoor courts instead of the typical six, which meant only four singles matches could be played simultaneously, forcing the last two games to be delayed until spaces on the courts opened up.
It took a long time for the last two matches to be played.Of the first four matches, three went to a complete third set. Then, because the score of the dual match was 3-2, the last two singles matches had to be played out to decide a winner. With the game on court five going to a complete third set, the length of Sunday’s dual match continued to grow.
After a longer-than-expected contest, Kentucky defeated Florida 4-3 at home, despite Florida securing the doubles point and taking a 2-0 lead early in the afternoon. With this result, the Gators end their three-game road trip at a winless 0-3 clip.
Florida came into Sunday’s match on a cold streak, having dropped four of its last five matches – all to SEC opponents. Last time out, the Gators were defeated in Knoxville by the No. 6 Lady Volunteers despite senior Alicia Dudeney upsetting junior No. 34 Catherine Aulia and senior Bente Spee securing the victory on court four.
Head coach Shelley Jaudon’s Wildcats have also struggled lately, riding a three-match losing streak heading into Sunday’s competition. Last Friday, Kentucky fell 4-2 to No. 9 Auburn at home, even after junior No. 69 Zoe Hammond upset Auburn junior No. 3 DJ Bennett.
The Gators came out strong against the Wildcats, taking the doubles point to start the contest.
On court one, Florida’s No. 45 pair of seniors Dudeney and Spee took on Kentucky’s No. 80 pair of senior Ellie Eades and fifth-year senior Lizzy Stevens. After taking a commanding 3-0 lead, the Florida pair cruised to a 6-1 victory, marking its fifth doubles victory in its last six completed matches.
To secure the doubles point for the visitors, junior Rachel Gailis and freshman Talia Neilson-Gatenby defeated Kentucky junior Hammond and freshman Asuncion Jadue. Despite trailing 1-3 in the match, the Gator pair won five straight games to grab a 6-3 victory on court two. This result is Gailis and Neilson-Gatenby's first doubles victory as a pair this season, ending their three-match losing streak.
Florida continued its winning ways at the start of singles, where Spee defeated Kentucky freshman Tess Bucher in straight sets on court four. After taking the first set 6-3, the UF senior wore out Bucher to grab the second set 6-2 and win her fourth singles match in the last five completed matches.
The Wildcats grabbed their first point of the day on court three, where Stevens faced Neilson-Gatenby. The Florida freshman took the first set 6-1, but the Kentucky fifth-year senior bounced back to win the second set 6-3 and forced a third set that she dominated 6-1 to secure victory. Neilson-Gatenby has now lost 10 of her last 11 matches.
After her upset against No. 3 Bennett, Hammond took down Florida’s No. 21 Gailis in three sets to tie the contest at two. The Kentucky junior won the first set 6-2 with ease, but the Florida junior dug deep to take the second set 7-5. With the match on the line, Gailis could not keep up with Hammond, losing the third set 6-2.
The Gators reclaimed a 3-2 lead in the contest, with No. 75 Dudeney upsetting No. 60 Zhu on court two. The Florida senior took the first set 6-4, but Zhu came back to take the second set 6-3. With the pressure on the line, Dudeney stepped up to take the third set 6-3 to secure her eighth consecutive victory, with the last two being upsets against SEC opponents on the road.
Kentucky tied the match at three on court five, where UF’s walk-on freshman Reagan Parker fell to UK’s junior Ellie Myers in straight sets 6-0, 6-1. For Reagan, she remains winless in singles against SEC opponents and extends her overall losing streak to six matches.
With the dual match on the line, all eyes were on court five, where Florida freshman Noémie Oliveras faced Jadue. The Kentucky freshman fought off Oliveras to grab the first set 7-5, and despite Oliveras taking a 3-2 lead in the second set, Jadue won the next four games to secure the second set 6-3 and claim victory for Kentucky.
Florida is now 8-11 on the year and will return to Gainesville on Friday to take on LSU.
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.
