No. 21 Florida Women’s Tennis Swept At No. 7 Michigan

The No. 21 Florida Gators women’s tennis team fell to No. 7 Michigan 7-0 on Tuesday in Ann Arbor.

Doubles Play

The Wolverines (4-0) jumped to an early lead in doubles play beginning at 5 p.m. and did not look back.

Florida freshmen Nikola Daubnerova–Noémie Oliveras quickly fell to freshman Ava Bruno-junior Lily Jones on court one, 6-2.

A pair of seniors Alicia Dudeney–Bente Spee put up a better fight against freshman Jessica Bernales-sophomore Piper Charney on court three but ultimately fell 7-5 as Michigan secured the doubles point.

Junior Rachel Gailis-freshman Talia Neilson-Gatenby went unfinished against senior Julia Fliegner-sophomore Reese Miller on court two.

Singles

The Gators (2-2) were unable to find a rhythm in singles where they lost all six matches.

Daubnerova was quickly swept by fellow freshman Emily Sartz-Lunde on court four in the first set, 6-0. Nikola couldn’t get anything going in the second set either, falling 6-1 as Michigan took a 2-0 lead.

Spee faced a similar fate against Miller on court five, losing in straight sets to the sophomore 6-0, 6-2.

With Michigan up 3-0, Neilson-Gatenby fell to Jones in straight sets on court three (6-4, 6-1) to seal Michigan’s victory, 4-0.

The remaining three matches played on in Ann Arbor as Michigan continued to dominate, sweeping Florida in singles.

Oliveras fell to Bernales in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) on court six, before Gailis fell to No. 5 Fliegner in three sets on court one. Despite a valiant effort by the Florida junior to catch up after losing set one, she lost the super tiebreak 10-6, to fall (6-2, 3-6, 1-0(6)).

What was a dreadful day of tennis for Florida ended in a 7-0 loss when Charney defeated Dudeney on court two to complete the match.

Up Next

Florida coach Per Nilsson believes his team will continue to improve and that embracing the challenge of an elite Michigan squad is a step in the right direction.

“It’s what our girls need to see,” Nilsson said. “We’re just going to continue to work on the things that we need to get better at.”

Florida will shake off this loss and set its sight on a weekend victory when they continue the road trip. The Gators will face Georgia Southern in Statesboro at 10 a.m. Sunday.

Michigan head into the weekend undefeated and face the No.16 LSU Tigers (5-0) on Friday. The Wolverines will play at 9 a.m. in the Champaign, Illinois ITA National Team Indoor Championship.