Florida Falls To LSU in ITA Kickoff Weekend Championship Match

The No. 19 Florida Gators women’s tennis team fell to No. 22 LSU in the ITA Kickoff Weekend championship match Sunday, 4-1.

The Gators defeated FIU Saturday, 4-2, while LSU cruised past Miami, 4-0, to earn their spot in Sunday’s championship.

Miami and FIU rounded out the bottom two spots of the four-team tournaments, with FIU taking third place Sunday with an intense 4-3 comeback victory over the Hurricanes.

LSU Wins Doubles Point

Florida freshmen Talia Neilson-Gatenby-Noémie Oliveras struggled to get in a groove against freshman Tilwith Di Girolami-senior Anita Sahdiieva as they went down 4-0 early in the match. The deficit was too much to overcome as they fell 6-2.

Senior Emily De Oliveira-freshman Nikola Daubnerova battled sophomore Kenna Erickson-senior Gaby Rivera on court three. Despite falling 3-0, then 4-1 early, the Florida duo won three straight games to bring it to 5-4. However, they couldn’t get it done in the 10th game where they lost the match 6-4, securing the doubles point for the Tigers.

The pair of seniors Alicia Dudeney-Bente Spee  faced LSU freshmen Cadence Brace–Kayla Cross on court one. Despite falling 1-4, the veteran pair tied the match 6-6, but the match was abandoned before the tiebreaker due to LSU’s other triumphs in doubles.

Singles

Oliveras faced Rivera on court six and had little trouble getting past the fifth-year senior, winning in straight sets (6-1, 6-1) and earning Florida its first point.

With Florida and LSU locked up at 1-1, Neilson-Gatenby faced Di Girolami. Despite tying the first set at 5-5 after trailing 3-0, the Florida freshman couldn’t complete the comeback. Neilson-Gatenby lost in straight sets (7-5, 6-2) to give LSU its second point.

De Oliveira took Cross into three sets on court two. Despite gaining momentum through a 6-1 second-set victory, the senior dropped the first and third sets 6-1, en route to her 1-6, 6-1, 1-6 loss.

Daubnerova lost the first set to Sahdiieva, who played a near-flawless six games. The freshman led the second set 3-1, but allowed the senior to tie it 5-5. From there, Sahdiieva stole the next two games to defeat Daubnerova 6-0, 7-5 and give LSU its match-winning fourth point.

Dudeney faced Brace on court one. After losing the first set 6-1, Dudeney came screeching back in the second set, 6-1. However, LSU reached the four points needed to win, leaving the match unfinished with the Gator ahead 4-2 in the third set.

Spee faced sophomore Kinaa Graham on court five, but was also unable to complete her match. Despite leading early, Spee allowed Graham to tie the first set 5-5 before losing it 7-5. Spee trailed in the second set 6-5 before play was stopped due to LSU’s team win.

Up Next

The Gators will now take a week of rest while they prepare to visit Ann Arbor.

Florida will battle No. 8 Michigan on Feb. 4, when it looks to grab a second top-25 win.