Traveling to face 2025 ITA Indoor National Champions Georgia was already a challenge for Florida. However, not having junior Rachel Gailis available against the Bulldogs made Sunday’s match even tougher for the Gators.
Just an hour before doubles play began, Gailis was listed to participate in Sunday’s contest on court two in doubles with freshman Talia Neilson-Gatenby and court one in singles against No.1 Dasha Vidmanova. At the last second, Per Nilsson was forced to make a change as Gailis was no longer available due to undisclosed reasons.
Gailis’ absence resulted in freshman Noémie Oliveras being paired up with Neilson-Gatenby for the first time since Jan. 26 against LSU. In singles, all of Nilsson's squad had to play on a court position higher than expected, since Gailis is Florida’s choice for court one in singles. Moreover, Florida was forced to forfeit on court three in doubles and court six in singles.
Florida was unable to overcome these challenges, as the Gators were swept 4-0 by the No. 2 Bulldogs in Sunday’s match in Athens. This result marks Florida’s third straight loss and makes Florida 0-4 against SEC opponents, as Nilsson still searches for his first conference win as the UF women's tennis head coach.
The Gators came into Sunday’s meet on a cold streak. Nilsson’s team had dropped four of its last five contests, which included losses to three SEC opponents in No. 22 LSU, then-No. 4 Auburn and South Carolina. Last time out, the Gators were swept by the Gamecocks 4-0 in South Carolina. Things would get tougher for Florida, as Sunday marked their highest ranked opponents of the season yet in No. 2 Georgia.
On the other hand, Georgia has been dominant as of late. The Bulldogs were riding a six-game winning streak, which included a 5-2 victory over now-No. 6 Auburn last Friday at home. UGA head coach Drake Bernstein and his team came into Sunday 9-1 on the season and undefeated against SEC opponents.
With Florida having to forfeit on court three in doubles, Georgia had to win just one of the two matches to secure the doubles point.
UGA’s No. 25 senior pair of Vidmanova and Mell Reasco secured the doubles point for the hosts, as they defeated UF’s senior pair of Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee with ease 6-1 on court one.
Since Florida also had to forfeit a match in singles, Georgia had a 2-0 lead over UF before singles play had officially begun. The Bulldogs only needed to win two of the five singles matches to secure victory over the Gators, and they did so in no time.
On court three, Neilson-Gatenby took on Reasco. After losing the first set 6-3, Neilson-Gatenby was left in the dust, as Reascoo claimed the second set 6-0 to secure a straight sets victory. This result extends Neilson-Gatenby’s singles losing streak to three matches, as she has also dropped six of her last seven matches.
Georgia would secure the victory and their fourth point of the day on court five, where Oliveras took on senior Guillermina Grant. The Florida freshman from St. Étienne fell behind early, losing the first set 6-3, and despite her efforts, she was defeated in the second set 6-4. This defeat marks Oliveras’ third straight defeat in singles as well, with her last two defeats coming by way of straight sets.
The Gators also struggled in the matches that were abandoned.
Freshman Nikola Daubnerova was the most negatively affected from the last-second lineup changes. Daubnerova has spent most of her time on court four in singles this season, but in the last match, she moved up to court three. Daubnerova was expected to be on court three for Sunday’s match in Athens, but with Gailis’ last-second absence, the Florida freshman from Slovakia had to move to court two for singles.
The transition proved tough for Daubnerova, as she lost the first set 6-0 to No. 39 senior Anastasiia Lopata. In the second set, Daubnerova trailed 5-2 at the time that Georgia secured the match-clinching fourth point.
Overall, in singles play, Florida won one of the seven completed sets, as Spee took the first set 6-4 over No. 56 sophomore Aysegul Mert on court four. Of those six sets lost by the Gators, four were decided by three games or more.
The Gators are now 3-5, dropping them to their lowest win percentage of the season at .375. They’ll look to secure their first conference victory and end their three-game losing streak as they return home on March 7 to face the No. 11 Texas Longhorns.
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.
