Florida Women’s Tennis Breezes Past Georgia Southern

The No. 21 Florida Gators women’s tennis team defeated the Georgia Southern Eagles 6-1 on Sunday in Statesboro, Ga., to improve to 3-2 this season.

takin' care of business#GoGators | Presented by @WellsFargo pic.twitter.com/5wEVuFENMk

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) February 9, 2025

Doubles

Florida started behind as it only sent out two pairs for doubles play. This gave GSU (4-2) a one-game doubles advantage by walkover, meaning Florida had to win both matches to take the doubles point.

The Gators did just that, as Florida freshmen Nikola Daubnerova–Talia Neilson-Gatenby came out hot and swept fellow freshmen Hannah Eifert-Franzi Heinemann 6-0 on court two.

Florida’s pair of junior Rachel Gailis- senior Bente Spee secured the doubles point by fighting to a 6-3 victory against sophomore Mackenzie Leopold-freshman Lisen Rinman on court one.

Doubles point secured ☑️

Gailis/Spee def. Leopold/Rinman 6-3

Daubnerova/Neilson-Gatenby def. Eifert/Heinenmann 6-0 #GoGators

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) February 9, 2025

Singles

The Gators entered singles 1-0, but only sent out five players. Therefore, Georgia Southern junior Nanaka Kijima took a court six win by walkover to even the score 1-1.

Singles courts 🔒#GoGators pic.twitter.com/ZNEEANhG7d

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) February 9, 2025

Howver, Florida didn’t have much trouble in singles. Gailis breezed by Georgia Southern junior Juliette Nask in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2 to give the Gators a 2-1 edge.

Spee also won her match 6-1, 6-2 in straight sets. The senior from Heemstede, Netherlands earned Florida its third point by handily defeating Leopold on court four, pushing the Gators ahead 3-1.

Florida freshman Noémie Oliveras took it home for the Gators with her 7-6(5), 6-2 straight set victory against GSU freshman Amelie Rosadoro. Oliveras started in a hole, down 3-0 in the first set, but worked her way back to narrow the deficit to 5-4, eventually tying it 6-6 to force a tiebreaker. Oliverias won the tiebreaker 7-5 to take the first set and kept the pressure going from there, logging a 6-2 second-set victory to guarantee Florida victory against Georgia Southern.

The final two courts continued play as Neilson-Gatenby with the Gators routing the Eagles, defeating Rinman 6-2, 7-6 on court two. After breezing past the Eagles in set one, Neilson-Gatenby was pushed harder in the second, but won the tiebreaker 7-5 to pull out a straight-set victory.

Daubnerova faced a super tiebreaker after spliting the first two sets with Georgia Southern’s Heinemann on court three. Despite losing the set one tiebreaker 7-4, Daubnerova came back to win set two and the super tiebreaker 6-4 and 10-5.

Daubnerova’s (6-7, 6-4, 1-0(5)) three-set win gave the Gators their sixth point.

Gators play out final two courts:

Neilson-Gatenby def. Rinman 6-2, 7-6

Daubnerova splits sets vs. Heinemann 6-7, 6-4 #GoGators

— Gators Women's Tennis (@GatorsWTN) February 9, 2025

Daubnerova wins the supertiebreaker 10-5.

Florida wins 6-1.

— Curan Ahern (@CuranAhern) February 9, 2025

Up Next

The Gators will recharge and continue practice for the next two weeks. They look to ride this wave of momentum into their Feb. 23 match at Auburn.

Georgia Southern will recuperate this week and will have an opportunity to rebound from its loss when it hosts Jacksonville State at 1 p.m. Friday.