Women's tennis falls to No. 1 Georgia

Thursday, March 19

Athens, Ga.

5:00 PM

Florida Gators

Georgia

Gabia Paskauskas with the backhand against Kentucky

Gabia Paskauskas follows through on a backhand winner

Women's tennis falls to No. 1 Georgia

Thursday, March 19, 2026 | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: John Maxwell

ATHENS, Ga. — The scoreboard will show a 4-0 defeat, but that visual belies the fact that the Florida women's tennis team narrowly lost the doubles point to No. 1 Georgia Thursday night, and was leading at number one and three singles, and about to force a third set in the second slot when the Bulldogs clinched the match. Georgia is now 11-3 on the season and 6-2 in the SEC while the Gators are 10-4 and 5-3.

Doubles
Lucie Pawlak and India Houghton made quick work of Anastsiia Gureva and Emma Dong at number three doubles with a 6-1 victory. It was the tandem's third straight win, and improved their record in SEC play to a team-best 4-2. Shortly thereafter Anastasiia Lopata and Patricija Paukstyte evened things up at one apiece with a 6-2 decision in the top spot over Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova, who entered the week as the 34th-ranked team in the nation. Georgia locked up the doubles point when Deniz Dilek and Aysegul Mert, ranked seventh in the nation, broke Brooke Black and Valery Gynina in the final game of their number two doubles match for a 6-4 win.

Singles
Black made her inaugural foray into the national rankings this week, entering Thursday's match at No. 123, but her reward at number four singles was the opportunity to take on the player ranked 42nd in the nation in Gureva. Black also had a seven-match winning streak heading into the match, and a perfect 5-0 mark in conference play, but Gureva upended the London native, 6-1, 6-2.

Daubnerova, ranked 69th in the country, also brought a seven-match winning streak with her to Athens, but she had her run ended by No. 97 Sofia Rojas at six singles 6-1, 6-4. That put the Bulldogs up 3-0 with four opportunities to seal the win.

Houghton, who moved up 43 spots in the national rankings to No. 60 this week, won her first set over No. 28 Lopata at number one singles 6-0, and Paskauskas led No. 68 Dilek one set to none at number three. No. 78 Gynina dropped her first set at number two singles 6-4 to Mert, the sixth ranked player in the nation, but Gynina was serving in the second set up 4-3.

If the Gators were going to extend the match, they would need a second-set comeback from No. 105 Lucie Pawlak, who dropped her first set at number five singles to Dong, 6-3. But Florida wouldn't get the opportunity as Dong took the second set 6-1.

Florida (#17)	10-4, 5-3
Georgia (#1)	11-3, 6-2

FINAL RESULTS
Singles

1	#60	India Houghton (UF)	unf.	#28	Anastasiia Loopata (GA)	6-0, 3-4
2	#6	Aysegul Mert (GA)	unf.	#78	Valery Gynina (UF)	6-4, 4-3
3	#39	Gabia Paskauskas (UF)	unf.	#68	Deniz Dilek (GA)	6-3, 3-3
4	#42	Anastasiia Gureva (GA)	def.	#123	Brooke Black (UF)	6-1, 6-2
5		Emma Dong (GA)	def.	#105	Lucie Pawlak (UF)	6-3, 6-1
6	#97	Sofia Rojas (GA)	def.	#69	Nikola Daubnerova (UF)	6-1, 6-4

Order of Finish 4, 6, 5

Doubles

1		Lopata / Patricija Paukstyte (GA)	def.	#34	Xinyi Nong / Daubnerova (UF)	6-2
2	#7	Dilek / Mert (GA)	def.		Gynina / Black (UF)	6-4
3		Houghton / Pawlak (UF)	def.		Gureva / Dong (GA)	6-1

Order of Finish 3, 1, 2

UP NEXT
The Gators remain on the road making their way to Columbia S.C. for a Saturday, March 21 meeting with the No. 24 Gamecocks at 1 p.m. EDT.

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