Florida Gators

ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Gators women's tennis duo of Alicia Dudeney and Bente Spee punched their tickets to the quarterfinals in the NCAA Doubles Championship, while Carly Briggs bowed out in the round of 16 in the NCAA Singles Championship on Wednesday afternoon at the USTA National Campus.
 
In the All-SEC round of 16 doubles match against No. 6 Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar from LSU, No. 21 Dudeney/Spee snatched up a 3-0 lead and never turned back in the opening frame. Dropping just a single game in the set, the Florida pair converted on both of their two break point opportunities that came on deuce point, while never facing a break of their own serve.
 
With the 6-1 first set in hand, the sophomore Gators continued to pressure Collins/Komar and the Tigers double faulted in their opening service game, handing Florida the 1-0 break lead. The second frame was on-serve until 3-2 when UF and LSU exchanged breaks for the next three games, allowing Collins/Komar to tie the match at 4-4. Facing their first deficit of the match down 5-4, Dudeney/Spee fended off two set points by the Tigers. Both sides exchanged breaks in the final two games and the second set went to a tiebreak.
 
The Gators tandem did their damage in the breaker up 2-1 by producing back-to-back mini-breaks of Collins/Komar's serve for the 4-1 advantage. Dudeney/Spee finished off LSU, utilizing a serve out wide by Spee and the return was lobbed up to Dudeney at the net, whose smash cemented the straight-set victory 6-1, 7-6 (4).
 
Dudeney/Spee become the first Gators pair to reach the quarterfinals in the NCAA Doubles Championships since the 2016 NCAA Doubles Champions Brooke Austin/Kourtney Keegan did so in 2017.
 
Improving to 16-4 with six ranked victories, Dudeney/Spee earn ITA Doubles All-American status with the quarterfinal bearth. Dudeney/Spee are set to face No. 11 Fiona Crawley/Carson Tanguilig (UNC) tomorrow, May 25 at 2 p.m ET.
 
In the All-SEC singles affair, No. 45 Briggs took on South Carolina's No. 12 Ayana Akli for the second time this season. The first break of the match went Briggs' way, as the senior started with a 3-1 lead, but Akli broke right back. Leveled at 4-4, Briggs' service game went to a deuce point and Akli capitalized by breaking and fended off Briggs in the following service game to close the opening set 6-4.
 
Through the first four games of the second set, Briggs and Akli exchanged breaks. After earning a love hold to go up 4-3, Briggs unleashed a backhand blast to go up a break for the for the 5-3 advantage. However, Akli came firing back and won the final four games to earn the victory, 7-5.
 
Briggs ends the season 20-15 in overall singles and accomplished a career-high single season singles victories after earning 19 wins in both 2020-21 and 2021-22. The Calhoun, Ga. native is set to return to the Gators for the 2023-24 season for her fifth year.
 
NCAA Doubles Championships | Round of 16 | May 24
No. 21 Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee (UF) def. No. 6 Kylie Collins/Anastasiya Komar (LSU), 6-1, 7-6 (4)
 
NCAA Singles Championships | Round of 16 | May 24
No. 12 Ayana Akli (South Carolina) def. No. 45 Carly Briggs, 6-4, 7-5
 
NCAA Doubles Championships | Round of 32 | May 23
No. 21 Alicia Dudeney/Bente Spee (UF) def. No. 43 Adel-Byanu Abidullina/Eliza Askarova (Delaware), 6-4, 5-7 [10-4]
 
NCAA Singles Championships | Round of 32 | May 23
No. 45 Carly Briggs (UF) def. No. 65 Page Freeman (Notre Dame), 6-2, 6-2
 
NCAA Singles Championships | Round of 64 | May 22
No. 45 Carly Briggs (UF) def. No. 30 Sydni Ratliff (Ohio State), 7-6 (1), 6-3
No 1 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. No. 17 Sara Dahlstrom (UF), 6-4, 6-1
 
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