Thursday, March 26
Gainesville, Fla.
5 PM
Florida Gators
4
vs
0
Alabama
Florida celebrates its win over Alabama with a group Gators Chomp
No. 15 Gators Sweep Alabama 4-0
Thursday, March 26, 2026 | Women's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The No. 15 Florida women's tennis team swept No. 38 Alabama Thursday night 4-0, but the focus for much of the match was on its familial subplot as sisters Gabia and Kristina Paskauskas stood on different sides of the net for the first time in their collegiate careers. Both players attended NC State last year, but in the offseason, Gabia transferred to Florida and Kristina transferred to Alabama. Even though they didn't share the same court, it was a unique situation for the sisters which provided a unique set of challenges.
"Having [my sister] as a teammate last year at NC State was such a great experience," Gabia explained after the match. "I don't think anything can top being on the same team as your sibling. But obviously now it's different because we're playing against each other and that's really difficult because there are lots of emotions. I want her to do well. She wants me to do well. It was a very weird dynamic on court today playing next to her but not on the same team.
"I was playing my point, but my mind was over on her court as well. I definitely need to work on my focus (laughs). I wouldn't say it completely affected me, but I would say the focus aspect, my mind kind of being on two courts, it was a little bit difficult to deal with that. And also seeing her go down in the match and then up in the match. It's a little bit of a game of emotions for sure. [Associate Head Coach Axel Damiens] kind of got me to come back, and he just told me to keep my eyes on my court and focus on what I need to do, and he gave me tactics and just to stick on to those."
The win upped the Gators' record to 12-4 on the season and 7-3 in the SEC, while the Crimson Tide fell to 12-6 and 4-6.
Alabama picked up the first doubles win at number two as Klara Milicevoc and Karla Bartel broke Brooke Black and Valery Gynina late to pick up a 6-4 victory. No. 34 Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova evened things up with a 6-3 win at number one shifting the pressure to court number three.
Alabama's Maria Andrienko and Amina Salibayeva fought off two match points, but Lucia Pawlak and India Houghton closed things out for a 7-5 win. It was the fourth straight victory for the Gators' duo who are now 5-2 on the season in dual matches.
Despite the sweep — Florida's third shutout of an SEC opponent in 2026 — the Gators still have some things to work on as the team's doubles win wasn't as clean as Coach Nilsson would have liked,
"I think the topic of this match is that we weren't very happy after the doubles," explained Nilsson. "We didn't like the way we played in those moments. We weren't really happy with the energy that we had which is something we have to have, so I was a little hot after the doubles point. I'm glad we got the doubles point, but against some of the top teams in the conference we'll get blown away if we come out like that. I'm really happy they answered in singles because that what we said. It cannot look like that or we will be in trouble. We looked a lot better in singles."
Paskauskas confirmed that Nillson's post-doubles "pep talk" was stern, but effective. "[After doubles] we actually went to the very end court in the corner, and me and [teammate] Scarlett [Nicholson] said to each other 'Gosh, we're going in the naughty corner here.' He was strict, but he always wants the best for us, so he just told us to kind of regroup, refocus and get onto our doubles with loads of energy as a team, pumping each other up."
Nilsson's words of wisdom had the desired impact as the Gators won five of the six first sets in singles, and began inching towards the 4-0 sweep. Daubernova clinched first with a 6-3, 6-1 decision at number six over Salibayeva, improving to 8-1 on the season in dual matches and 4-1 in SEC play.
Gabia Paskauskas was next in the clubhouse with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Maria Andrienko at number three singles. The sophomore has now won four of her last five matches.
Pawlak clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bowman at number five singles, and is now tied with Black for the team lead in dual singles wins.
FINAL RESULTS
Singles
Doubles
UP NEXT
The Gators remain at home for a Saturday, March 28 meeting with No. 44 Mississippi State at noon EDT.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: X | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
"Having [my sister] as a teammate last year at NC State was such a great experience," Gabia explained after the match. "I don't think anything can top being on the same team as your sibling. But obviously now it's different because we're playing against each other and that's really difficult because there are lots of emotions. I want her to do well. She wants me to do well. It was a very weird dynamic on court today playing next to her but not on the same team.
"I was playing my point, but my mind was over on her court as well. I definitely need to work on my focus (laughs). I wouldn't say it completely affected me, but I would say the focus aspect, my mind kind of being on two courts, it was a little bit difficult to deal with that. And also seeing her go down in the match and then up in the match. It's a little bit of a game of emotions for sure. [Associate Head Coach Axel Damiens] kind of got me to come back, and he just told me to keep my eyes on my court and focus on what I need to do, and he gave me tactics and just to stick on to those."
The win upped the Gators' record to 12-4 on the season and 7-3 in the SEC, while the Crimson Tide fell to 12-6 and 4-6.
Alabama picked up the first doubles win at number two as Klara Milicevoc and Karla Bartel broke Brooke Black and Valery Gynina late to pick up a 6-4 victory. No. 34 Xinyi Nong and Nikola Daubnerova evened things up with a 6-3 win at number one shifting the pressure to court number three.
Alabama's Maria Andrienko and Amina Salibayeva fought off two match points, but Lucia Pawlak and India Houghton closed things out for a 7-5 win. It was the fourth straight victory for the Gators' duo who are now 5-2 on the season in dual matches.
Despite the sweep — Florida's third shutout of an SEC opponent in 2026 — the Gators still have some things to work on as the team's doubles win wasn't as clean as Coach Nilsson would have liked,
"I think the topic of this match is that we weren't very happy after the doubles," explained Nilsson. "We didn't like the way we played in those moments. We weren't really happy with the energy that we had which is something we have to have, so I was a little hot after the doubles point. I'm glad we got the doubles point, but against some of the top teams in the conference we'll get blown away if we come out like that. I'm really happy they answered in singles because that what we said. It cannot look like that or we will be in trouble. We looked a lot better in singles."
Paskauskas confirmed that Nillson's post-doubles "pep talk" was stern, but effective. "[After doubles] we actually went to the very end court in the corner, and me and [teammate] Scarlett [Nicholson] said to each other 'Gosh, we're going in the naughty corner here.' He was strict, but he always wants the best for us, so he just told us to kind of regroup, refocus and get onto our doubles with loads of energy as a team, pumping each other up."
Nilsson's words of wisdom had the desired impact as the Gators won five of the six first sets in singles, and began inching towards the 4-0 sweep. Daubernova clinched first with a 6-3, 6-1 decision at number six over Salibayeva, improving to 8-1 on the season in dual matches and 4-1 in SEC play.
Gabia Paskauskas was next in the clubhouse with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Maria Andrienko at number three singles. The sophomore has now won four of her last five matches.
Pawlak clinched the match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Bowman at number five singles, and is now tied with Black for the team lead in dual singles wins.
| Florida (#15) | 12-4, 7-3 |
| Alabama (#38) | 12-6, 4-6 |
FINAL RESULTS
Singles
| 1 | #60 | India Houghton (UF) | unf. | #73 | Kristina Paskauskas (ALA) | 6-3, 5-2 |
| 2 | #90 | Klara Milcevic (ALA) | unf. | #78 | Valery Gynina (UF) | 7-5, 4-4 |
| 3 | #39 | Gabia Paskauskas (UF) | def. | Maria Andrienko (ALA) | 6-4, 6-1 | |
| 4 | #123 | Brooke Black (UF) | unf. | #98 | Karla Bartel (ALA) | 6-0, 5-7, 2-1 |
| 5 | #105 | Lucie Pawlak (UF) | def. | Addison Bowman (ALA) | 6-2, 6-2 | |
| 6 | #69 | Nikola Daubnerova (UF) | def. | Amina Salibayeva (ALA) | 6-3, 6-1 | |
| Order of Finish 6, 3, 5 | ||||||
Doubles
| 1 | #34 | Xinyi Nong / Daubnerova (UF) | def. | #XX | Paskauskas / Bowman (ALA) | 6-3 |
| 2 | Milicevic / Bartel (ALA) | def. | Gynina / Black (UF) | 6-4 | ||
| 3 | Houghton / Pawlak (UF) | def. | Andrienko / Salibayeva (ALA) | 7-5 | ||
| Order of Finish 2, 3, 1 | ||||||
UP NEXT
The Gators remain at home for a Saturday, March 28 meeting with No. 44 Mississippi State at noon EDT.
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: X | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators
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Team Stats
#1 Doubles Match
#2 Doubles Match
#3 Doubles Match
Order of Finish:
2,1,3
#1 Singles Match
123
Kristina Paskauskas / 0 (73/-) [W_UA]
320
65UF
#2 Singles Match
123
Klara Millicevic / 0 (90/-) [W_UA]
740
54UF
#3 Singles Match
12
Maria Andrienko / 0 [W_UA]
41
66
#4 Singles Match
1234
Karla Bartel / 0 (98/-) [W_UA]
0710
652UF
#5 Singles Match
12
Addison Bowman / 0 [W_UA]
22
66
#6 Singles Match
12
Amina Salibayeva / 0 [W_UA]
31
66
Order of Finish:
6,3,5
Players Mentioned
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
/ Women's Tennis
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