Senior Anna Danilina crouched on the court as the crowd behind her at the Ring Tennis Complex clapped in unison. Her opponent, Missouri’s Selena Nash, was one point away from losing to Danilia in a singles match and it was her turn to serve.
She couldn’t handle the pressure.
Nash faulted two times in a row, eliciting a cheer from the crowd and bringing Danilina to an upright stance as she jogged to the net to greet her opponent.
“It’s always amazing to play here at the Swamp,” Danilina said after the match.
Danilina’s win helped lead the Gators (14-5, 9-1 SEC) to a 4-0 victory on Saturday in Gainesville, bringing Florida’s all-time record against Missouri (11-12, 0-9 SEC) to 6-0 .
After losing the doubles point in a match against Arkansas on Thursday, UF redeemed itself on Saturday against the Tigers, winning two consecutive doubles matches to clinch a 1-0 lead. The first doubles victory came on Court 3, where the duo of senior Josie Kuhlman and freshman McCartney Kessler defeated Missouri’s Nash and Amina Ismail 6-2. Both remaining Gators tandems played for the clinching match at the exact same time, sitting at five games won and a score of 40, but it was senior Peggy Porter and freshman Katie Kubicz that got the job done, defeating Mackenzy Middlebrooks and Ellie Wright 6-2 to give Florida the doubles point.
While Kessler has typically sealed wins for the Gators as of late, having clinched four of Florida’s previous six victories, she kickstarted the process on Saturday, defeating Wright 6-1, 6-0 in a dominating performance to bring UF up 2-0 over Missouri.
Danilina was next to strike, readily defeating Nash when she faulted into the net on the match point by the exact same score of 6-1, 6-0.
Finally, it was Porter who delivered the clincher for UF, defeating Missouri’s Clare Raley 6-3, 6-1.
UF won’t have any time to celebrate the victory, as it heads to Lake Nona, Florida, to face No. 7 Texas at the USTA Campus at 5 p.m on Sunday. Despite the fact that the team will be playing its third match in four days, coach Roland Thornqvist isn’t worried when it comes to fatigue.
“If we’re afraid of playing three out of four, then we won’t do well in the NCAA tournament,” he said. “That will have no bearing on the match tomorrow.”
Follow River Wells on Twitter @riverhwells and contact him at rwells@alligator.org.
Senior Anna Danilina helped lead the Gators to their fifth consecutive conference victory on Saturday.
