Florida Gators
Oklahoma
Women's Tennis Upends No. 11 Oklahoma, 4-3
Saturday, February 28, 2026 | Women's Tennis
Doubles
Oklahoma brought a pair of ranked doubles teams along with them Saturday, including the number one team in the nation in Gloriana Nahum and Roisin Gilheany. It was No. 44 Edda Mamedova and Evialina Laskevich who finished their match first, however, besting Brooke Black and Valery Gynina, 6-4, at the number two slot. Nahum and Gilheany then picked up their own 6-4 win over Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova at number one to secure the doubles point for the Sooners. Pawlak and India Houghton led Salakthip Ounmuang and Julia Garcia Ruiz 5-4 when Oklahoma sealed the win
Singles
Laskevich made it 2-0 Oklahoma when she upended No. 54 Gynina 6-3, 6-3 in the top spot, but Black got Florida on the board with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Chloe Noel at number four. Black is now 3-0 in conference singles play. Houghton knotted things up at two as she topped No. 17 Garcia Ruiz 7-5, 6-2 at number two singles, and No. 97 Nong put Florida back on top with a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 win over Brunkel at number six. No. 23 Paskauskas dropped a tight 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 decision to Mamedova at number three singles setting the stage for Pawlak's heroics.
FROM THE GATORS' MOUTHS
- Lucie Pawlak on clinching the win…
"Honestly, it was a dream because it was the decisive match so I've got a lot of pressure, and I'm a freshman. It's all new for me. I was like shaking … Playing at home, it helped so much and the atmosphere over there was huge, and I love being a Gator. Playing here and with the men's team [which was in attendance cheering the women's team on] they helped me a lot. It was incredible, and I'm so proud of the team."
- Lucie Pawlak on holding serve throughout the third set.
"Honestly, it has been three weeks that I've served so bad. It's crazy, because my serve is one of my best weapons. I don't know why. Maybe God? I was focusing on maybe the toss super high, and the go for it. Honestly, I don't even know. But my serve was really big. It helped me a lot.
- Head Coach Per Nilsson on beating nationally-ranked Oklahoma.
"This match was important for us in many ways. We lost the doubles point, and we still came back to win. You've got to find one of those matches at some point, and they're hard to do against a really good team, so that was a really good bonus for us. And then we also had some people win today that we needed them to have some wins, because we feel like we're really good all the way through especially at the bottom of our lineup, and we struggled a little bit last week there so winning at five and six today was big for us. Four, five and six we won, so those are important wins. And we have two freshman that win their matches today, and they are going to win a lot, but you need to get over that hump and get one big one, and I think they did today."
- Head Coach Per Nilsson on what he said to Lucie Pawlak during her match-clinching victory.
"I only went over there one time, and I just told her 'it doesn't matter what she's been like in the past. She's a Gator now. She can be any way she wants.' and I told her 'the only way she should be right now is a complete beast, and just concentrate on what she's trying to do.' I don't know if it helped or not, but she's the one who did it. It worked."
| Florida | 7-2, 2-1 |
| Oklahoma | 10-4, 1-2 |
FINAL RESULTS
Singles
| 1 | Evialina Laskevich (OK) | def. | #54 | Valery Gynina (UF) | 6-3, 6-3 | |
| 2 | India Houghton (UF) | def. | #17 | Julia Garcia Ruiz (OK) | 7-5, 6-2 | |
| 3 | Edda Mamedova (OK) | def. | #23 | Gabia Paskauskas (UF) | 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 | |
| 4 | Brooke Black (UF) | def. | Chloe Noel (OK) | 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 | ||
| 5 | #80 | Lucie Pawlak (UF) | def. | Salakthip Ounmuang (OK) | 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 | |
| 6 | #97 | Xinyi Nong (UF) | def. | Gloriana Nahum (OK) | 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 | |
| Order of Finish 1, 4, 2, 6, 3, 5 | ||||||
Doubles
| 1 | #1 | Nahum / Gilheany (OK) | def. | #23 | Nong / Daubnerova (UF) | 6-4 |
| 2 | #44 | Mamedova / Laskevich (OK) | def. | Gynina / Black (UF) | 6-4 | |
| 3 | Houghton / Pawlak (UF) | unf. | Ounmuang / Garcia Ruiz (OK) | 5-4 | ||
| Order of Finish 2, 1 | ||||||
UP NEXT
The Gators are on the road for a pair of matches next week beginning with a Thursday, March 5 meeting with LSU at 6 p.m. EST, and concluding with a Saturday, March 7 trip to Ole Miss at 2 p.m.
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