Florida eschews doubles point again, but rallies for 4-1 win over Mississippi State

Saturday, March 28

Gainesville, Fla.

12 PM

Florida Gators

Mississippi State

Valery Gynina with the leaping forehand against Mississippi State

Florida eschews doubles point again, but rallies for 4-1 win over Mississippi State

Saturday, March 28, 2026 | Women's Tennis

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By: John Maxwell

GAINESVILLE, Fla.. — The Florida Gators Women's Tennis Team had more to battle than just the No. 44 Mississippi State Bulldogs Saturday afternoon, as wind gusts in the area were clocked as high as 40 miles per hour making for some interesting rallies at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. After a somewhat shaky start, the No. 15 Gators recovered for their third straight win, upending the Bulldogs 4-1 to move into sole possession of sixth place in the SEC standings.

Florida appeared well on its way to winning the doubles point despite squaring off against a pair of nationally-ranked teams. The Gators number three pairing of Lucie Pawlak and India Houghton broke Emma Cohen and Mia Robinson early to jump out to a 3-0 advantage en route to a 6-2 win.

Florida's number two team of Brooke Black and Valery Gynina were even more dominant, breaking No. 52 Gianna Oboniye and Athina Pitta twice in the first four games to lead 4-0. Oboniye and Pitta turned the tide by rattling off four straight games of their own to knot things up at four apiece. After the Gators broke the Bulldogs once more to go up 5-4, they appeared to be in the driver's seat with Gynina serving for the match. However Mississippi State didn't get the memo, and closed out the match with three straight wins for the 7-5 victory.

That handed the double point to the Bulldogs as, in the meantime, their number one team of Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz and Chiara Di Genova upended Xinyi Nong and Niki Daubnerova 6-4. This marked the fourth time in conference play this season that the Gators have won a match without winning the doubles point.

"I thought we were doing good in doubles up to a certain point," said Associate Head Coach Axel Damiens, "and then ... kind of went away from what we were doing, and that was more of the issue. I think we can work on that stuff, though. We're continuing to get better and when we get up and get leads we've got to stick to the game plan and not get bothered by little things, or a couple of points or one game and give it away. But we've proven we can win a dual match without the doubles point. We're starting to be a little creative with it, maybe a little too creative (laughs). I wish there was a more straight-forward way, but we're a strong, deep team, and we're finding ways to put four points on the board, and that's all that matters."

Gynina was even more pragmatic with her analysis noting that "We already have experience winning the whole match losing the doubles point. You just need to win, like, one extra point. That's it." She also wasn't concerned about the wind gusts smiling "For two years, I was playing in Miami, so … I'm totally find with the wind. And for my opponent it's the same, so why should I complain about it."

Early on during singles play it appeared as if Florida was going to be cutting things a bit tight. At number one singles, Houghton dropped her first set 6-0, and Gabia Paskauskas lost her first set 6-1 at number three, putting some additional pressure on the remaining four courts.

Black won her first set at number four singles 6-4, and closed out the second 6-3 by winning the final four games to improve to 7-1 in SEC play. Pawlak also jumped out to a quick lead with a 6-3 win in the first set at number five, finishing her day with a 7-5 result in the second to put Florida on top 2-1. Pawlak also has seven conference wins to her credit, as well as a team-high 18 overall wins in singles this season.

Gynina put her difficult doubles result in the rear view mirror early as well taking her first set 6-3. NIkola Daubernova trailed 5-3 early in her match in the six slot, but she won four straight games to close it out 7-5.

Up one set to none, Gynina had her sights set on a straight-set victory, and broke Thessy Ntondele-Zinga early in the second to lead 2-0, but Ntondele-Zinga countered by winning four straight games of her own, and took the second 6-4. Meanwhile, Houghton and Paskauskas both bounced back to take their respective second sets to give the Gators a number of avenues to wins number three and four.

It was Gynina who closed out her match first taking the third set 6-2 and making it 3-1 Florida, leaving both Daubernova, who dropped her second set 7-5, and Houghton within shouting distance of the clinching match. Daubnerova got there just a bit faster taking set number three by a score of 6-2 to give the Gators the win, while Houghton left the court with a 5-2 lead in the third. Paskauskas led 1-0 in her third set at the time of the match's completion.

When Gynina was asked after the match what her mindset is like in those big moments she laughed "My mindset is to be a bad ass (laughs). If I want to win, I need to be confident, and this is my way, how I'm going to win — with body language, energy — and to bring it to all of my teammates, to show them that I'm doing great. Come on guys. Let's go!"

Florida will need plenty of bad ass next week as the Gators travel to the Lone Star State for matches against Texas on Thursday, April 2 at 3 p.m. EDT, and vs. Texas A&M on Saturday, April 4 at 1 p.m. Both the Longhorns and Aggies are ahead of the Gators in the SEC standings, and are ranked No. 7 and 3 in the nation respectively.

Florida (#15)	13-4, 8-3
Mississippi (#44)	15-8, 3-8

FINAL RESULTS
Singles

1	#60	India Houghton (UF)	unf.	#XX	Gianna Oboniye (MSST)	0-6, 6-4, 5-2
2	#78	Valery Gynina (UF)	def.		Thessy Ntondele-Zinga (MSST)	6-3, 4-6, 6-2
3	#39	Gabia Paskauskas (UF)	unf.		Chiara De Genova (MSST)	1-6, 7-5, 1-0
4	#123	Brooke Black (UF)	def.		Carolina Troiano (MSST)	6-4, 6-3
5	#105	Lucie Pawlak (UF)	def.		Mia Robinson (MSST)	6-3, 7-5
6	#69	Nikola Daubnerova (UF)	def.		Athina Pitta (MSST)	7-5, 3-6, 6-2

Order of Finish 4, 5, 2, 6

Doubles

1	#55	Kempenaers-Pocz / Genova (MSST)	def.	#34	Xinyi Nong / Daubnerova (UF)	6-4
2	#52	Oboniye / Pitta (MSST)	def.		Gynina / Black (UF)	7-5
3		Houghton / Pawlak (UF)	def.		Cohen / Ntondele-Zinga (MSST)	6-2

Order of Finish 3, 1, 2