GAINESVILLE, Fla.  – No. 15 Florida women's tennis opened the 2024 NCAA Tournament with a first-round win over Stetson on Saturday afternoon. The Gators shut out the Hatters 4-0 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex and will advance to round two of postseason play.
 
The Gators started the doubles contest with an impressive performance on court three with Rachel Gailis and Bente Spee defeating Noa Cohen and Zali Morris 6-1. Clinching the doubles point for Florida was Carly Briggs and Qavia Lopez on court two. The pair defeated Cheri Darley and Alanna DiFrancesco 6-4 to give Florida a 1-0 advantage going into singles.
 
Alicia Dudeney and Malwina Rowinska were left unfinished against Magdalena Hedzrak and Nadejda Maslova. The duo was tied up at 5-5 before the match was abandoned.
 
Florida continued to trend in a victorious direction as they opened up singles with six first set victories. No. 75 Sara Dahlstrom was first to finish, extending Florida's lead to 2-0 after defeating Nadejda Maslova 6-0 in the first set. Maslova retired due to injury prior to the start of the second set, giving Dahlstrom the automatic victory. Although Stetson was unable to finish out the match, Dahlstrom's performance was nothing short of impressive. She dominated in the first set and gave Florida a preview of her post-season mentality.
 
No. 8 Rachel Gailis secured the third point for the Gators, pushing Florida to a 3-0 lead. Gailis trailed Cheri Darley 2-1 in the first three games, but regained momentum to win the next five straight and take the first set 6-2. Gailis' energy carried through to set two as she began to cruise past Darley. Gailis only dropped one game in the second to close out 6-1 and give the Gators a three-point advantage.
 
The fourth and final point for Florida came from Alicia Dudeney as she defeated Zali Morris 6-2, 6-2. Dudeney had a clinical performance for the Gators as she setup each point with intention. Dudeney took the first three games of the match to boast a 3-0 lead before her opponent brought it within one at 3-2. Dudeney persevered and took the next three games to close out set one at 6-2. The second set followed in a similar fashion with Dudeney never trailing and coming out ahead at 6-2 once more. Dudeney's clinch for Florida was her first singles victory since Apr. 7 against Kentucky, making it that much more fulfilling.
 
There were three singles matches left unfinished when Alicia Dudeney secured the win for Florida. In all three of the abandoned matches, the Gators held a one set advantage. No. 56 Carly Briggs had a strong performance on court three, closing out the first set 6-4 against Alanna DiFrancesco. Briggs held a 5-2 advantage in the second set and was close to tallying the fourth point for Florida but Alicia Dudeney beat her to it.
 
Freshman Qavia Lopez showed grit once more as she opened her match trailing 3-0 to Noa Cohen, before pulling a Lopez comeback to take the first set 6-4. The match continued to be a back and forth battle as she was trailing 4-2 in the second before left unfinished.
 
The final match out in the first round of the NCAA Tournament was Bente Spee against Magdalena Hedzrak. Spee had a comeback effort in the first set after being down 4-2. Spee fought hard to win four games straight and take the first set 6-4. With a one set advantage, Spee was only able to see one game of the second set before Florida punched its ticket to round two.
 
HEAD COACH ROLAND THORNQVIST SAID:
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist on the start of round one:
"The first rounds of the NCAA Tournament are always a little tricky and I thought, Stetson gave us some problems early. Stetson served really well to start to doubles and we had to find a way to get past their serves. Once our nerves settled a little bit in doubles, I thought we were really good. We also had to sort of do the same thing in singles on a couple of courts. They were coming after us pretty good, but the spots that we seemed to struggle in a little bit in the beginning of singles we actually really settled down at the end of the first sets and were able to manage us ourselves really well.
 
Head Coach Roland Thornqvist on singles play against Stetson:
"I was happy to see that we could win all six first sets and we had a few of our players just clinical. Rachel, obviously has been playing at a high level the whole year and today was no different. It was nice to see Sara swing like she did, that was Sara at her best. And then Alicia was also really clinical and didn't miss at all to close out the match at the end. So overall, I'm really pleased with our first round against Stetson."
 
SOPHOMORE RACHEL GAILIS SAID:
Sophomore Rachel Gailis on her mindset going into today's match coming off a loss in the SEC semifinals:
I think the main focus for me during practice was just using all my tools. The match against Texas A&M was not my best playing but I still managed to make it to a third set against a very good player. So even though it was tough, the way that I thought about it afterwards was, if that's my lowest point I still have a lot of room to grow. So, this week in practice I was just working on what I normally work on and forgetting about it. The team also helps a lot, when I'm looking around at the courts I don't feel the pressure that I'm the one that has to win the point. I think that we can do it from any spot. So that puts a lot of pressure off of me and lets me play freely."



Florida Women at the NCAA Championships

• The Gators have earned a spot in 41 of the 42 NCAA Championships, missing only the 1986 event
• Including this season, the Gators have qualified for 36-straight NCAA Championships
• The Gators have the second most team titles ever with seven, trailing only Stanford
• Florida has earned three national championships in the last decade (2011, 2012, 2017).

Singles: (order of finish 2,1,3)

1. #8 Rachel Gailis (UF) def. Cheri Darley (STET) 6-2, 6-1 2.
2. #75 Sara Dahlstrom (UF) def. Nadejda Maslova (STET) 6-0, retired
3. #56 Carly Briggs (UF) vs. Alanna DiFrancesco (STET) 6-4, 5-2, unfinished
4. Alicia Dudeney (UF) def. Zali Morris (STET) 6-2, 6-2 5.
5. #109 Qavia Lopez (UF) vs. Noa Cohen (STET) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
6. Bente Spee (UF) vs. Magdalena Hedrzak (STET) 6-4, 0-1, unfinished

Doubles: (order of finish 3,2)

1. Alicia Dudeney/Malwina Rowinska (UF) vs. Magdalena Hedrzak/Nadejda Maslova (STET) 5-5, unfinished
2. Carly Briggs/Qavia Lopez (UF) def. Cheri Darley/Alanna DiFrancesco (STET) 6-4
3. Rachel Gailis/Bente Spee (UF) def. Noa Cohen/Zali Morris (STET) 6-1
    

NEXT UP:
The Gators will take on No. 22 Miami in round two of the 2024 SEC Tournament. The match will now begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday and be held at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.

Miami defeated FIU 4-1 in the earlier Saturday matchup. The Hurricanes have earned its 22nd straight appearance in the Round of 32 after taking down the FIU Panthers. 
 
MATCH COVERAGE:
Full coverage of the match can be found through the following links:
Live Stream
Live Stats
NCAA Tournament Page
 
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