Whether or not it is the case in the animal kingdom, the Gators have made it clear that they rule the Bruins in the postseason.

After the UCLA men’s basketball and softball teams saw their seasons end at the hands of Florida, the women’s tennis team became the Gators’ next victim, losing 4-0 in a semifinal match Monday in Palo Alto.

“It was 4-0, but the score doesn’t really show what we did out there,” junior McCall Jones said. “There were so many three setters and so many close sets.”

Florida will now play Stanford, the tournament’s host school, in the national championship today.

After winning the doubles point in their previous four tournament matches, the Bruins (22-6) could not get on the board first Monday.

The Gators’ (30-1) duo of Lauren Embree and Sofie Oyen took down Jones and senior Noelle Hickey 8-6 on Court No. 2, and Caroline Hitimana and Joanna Mather defeated senior Maya Johansson and sophomore Pamela Montez 8-4 to clinch the point.

“It definitely deflated us a little bit, losing that doubles point to Florida,” Hickey said. “I think that we knew that it was a very attainable point to win.”

No. 6-seeded UCLA got off to a promising start in singles play, but No. 2-seeded Florida received three points with straight-set victories that were decided before the Bruins could have a shot at winning the other three-set matches that were left undecided.
Florida’s second point came from Embree, who beat Hickey 6-2, 6-2. In a duel of freshmen, Alexandra Cercone took down Courtney Dolehide 7-5, 6-3, and sophomore Allie Will won the match for the Gators with a 7-6, 6-2 win against Jones.

The three remaining Bruin singles players were all in the middle of competitive matches while the Gators collected their points.
Senior Andrea Remynse was in the third set of a close match against Oyen which ended at 1-6, 6-2, 1-1, and Johansson came back after losing the first set 6-1 to freshman Olivia Janowicz, winning the second set 7-6 before the match ended at 10-8 in the third.

Montez had a chance to put UCLA on the board with a sweep but could not capitalize on a 5-0 second-set lead.

“At times it looked like, wow, Florida was just going to dominate, and other times it looked like, wow, we’re coming back, we could still do this,” coach Stella Sampras Webster said.

For Hickey, who is a departing senior, along with Remynse and Johansson, the loss was still a satisfying way to end a career.
“I’m really happy that the team made the final four, and we got the program back up to where it deserves to be, and that’s a top contender for a title,” Hickey said.