Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 22 University of Florida women's tennis team begins its 2021 SEC slate this weekend with a pair of road contests in the state of Alabama as it takes on the Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa Friday and then travels to Auburn on Sunday afternoon.
 
First serve is set for 2 p.m. ET on Friday at the Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility and Sunday's action will kickoff at 1 p.m from the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
 

ALABAMA MATCH INFO

Date	Friday, Feb. 19
Time	2 p.m. ET
Matchup	No. 22 Florida (2-3) at Alabama (9-1)
Location	Roberta Alison Baumgardner Tennis Facility | Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Live Stats	Here
Match Notes	Florida

 

AUBURN MATCH INFO

Date	Sunday, Feb. 21
Time	1 p.m. ET
Matchup	No. 22 Florida (2-3) at Auburn (5-1)
Location	Yarbrough Tennis Center. | Auburn, Ala.
Live Stats	Here
Match Notes	Florida

The Gators last competed last Thursday, Feb. 11 when they posted a convincing 5-2 win at USF in their final non-conference test. After dropping the doubles point, UF strung together a dominant run in singles to vault it to its second win of the season. No. 32 McCartney Kessler, Marlee Zein, Sara Dahlstrom, Sydney Berlin and Ida Jarlskog all added broke through for victories.
 
In its final tune-up before league action, Florida's singles play was outstanding as it recorded victories on five of the six courts. The Gators shook off a three-match skid and ended the non-conference season with momentum heading into the rigors of league play.
 
The Gators' performance in singles has been strong from the start but they have had their struggles in doubles play, dropping the doubles point in four of their first five matches. Kessler, Berlin, Dahlstrom and Zein all have three singles victories to lead the way. In doubles, Florida's top-ranked duo of Kessler and Zein is just 1-2 on the dual match season but is 5-3 overall.
 
Florida, which returned five starters, was pegged to finish third in the SEC women's tennis coaches' preseason poll behind Georgia and Vanderbilt.
 
Head coach Roland Thornqvist begins his 20^th conference campaign.
 
Alabama enters the matchup sporting an 8-1 record and has played all of its dual matches at home so far this season. The Gators and Crimson Tide share one common opponent in USF, which they both defeated by the same tally of 5-2. Veteran Moka Ito, Alabama's No. 1, leads the way with a 7-1 mark while Anna Parkhomenko is 9-0 competing mostly at the fourth and fifth spots. Anna Marie Hiser and Sydney Riley have been the Crimson Tide's primary top doubles team and are 5-1. The Crimson Tide were selected to finish No. 11 in the SEC preseason polling.
 
Auburn (5-1) begins its conference season with a Friday afternoon matchup with South Carolina. The Tigers feature two ranked singles players in No. 62 Selin Ovunc and No. 99 Taylor Russo. Ovunc and Russo combine to form the nation's 11^th ranked doubles tandem. Senior Georgie Axon has registered five singles wins to pace the Tigers. Auburn was slated to finish ninth in the preseason poll.

Florida holds a 43-2 edge in the all-time series with Alabama and is 44-0 against Auburn. The Gators began their 2020 dual match season with the same two matchups; UF won at Alabama 4-2 on Feb. 28 before posting a thrilling 4-3 win at Auburn on March 1. 
 
Following their first SEC road trip, the Gators return to action next weekend when they welcome LSU and Texas A&M to the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
 
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators