A spot at the NCAA Indoor National Championships was on the line as the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Kickoff Weekend was in full swing at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex this weekend. 

Ultimately, the No. 8 Florida Gators (3-0) were the victors, claiming their spot in Seattle, Washington, from Feb. 9-12.

The weekend featured the Gators,  No. 20 University of San Diego (2-2), Florida International University (2-2) and Wake Forest (1-3).

The real highlight of the weekend was its final match, taking place on Sunday between Florida No. 38 graduate student Carly Briggs and San Diego junior Claudia De Las Heras. 

The three-hour thriller on Court 1 was the decider for who would head to Seattle for the NCAA Indoor Championships, as both teams were deadlocked at 3-3.

The first set of the match was back-and-forth, heading to a tiebreaker. But De Las Heras dominated the tiebreaker to make it 7-6.

The second set was somehow even tighter, as both players traded games back and forth. De Las Heras broke serve and took the lead, coming within one game of confirming the San Diego victory. However, Briggs stormed back, forcing a thrilling second-set tiebreaker which she eventually won, winning 7-6.

It then headed to a third set as the sun began to set in Gainesville. You could hear a pin drop as every fan in the stadium watched each point with bated breath. De Las Heras won the first game, but Briggs then followed up with six straight game victories to win 6-7, 7-6, 6-1.

The win by Briggs clinched a 4-3 Gator victory in the overall match, which went almost four hours.

Before the excitement of Sunday, UF faced off Saturday against FIU in what proved to be a competitive matchup from the first serve.

Florida secured the doubles point through strong play on Courts 2 and 3. On Court 2, UF’s No. 38 pair of freshmen Qavia Lopez and Malwina Rowinska cruised to a victory over FIU sophomore Katerina Mandelikova and senior Salma Loudili 6-1.

Meanwhile, on Court 3, UF’s duo of senior Sara Dahlstrom and sophomore Rachel Gailis took down FIU freshmen Valery Gynina and Kristyna Hranacova 6-3, which gave the Gators the advantage heading into singles play.

However, Florida’s lead did not last long, as they soon fell behind, losing the first four sets in singles. Post-match, Florida head coach Roland Thornqvist gave credit to the Panthers.

“This is by far the best FIU team we’ve ever played,” he said.

Forced to play from behind, the Gators found life on Courts 3 and 4 as Gailis and Dahlstrom stormed back to force third sets in their respective matches against FIU’s Gynina and Mandelikova.

On Courts 5 and 6 Qavia Lopez and junior Alicia Dudeney cruised to two-set victories over Loudili and freshman Petja Drame, respectively.

However, the Gators’ No. 23 junior Emily De Oliveira and Briggs both fell in straight sets to FIU’s No. 104 sophomore Oyinlomo Quadre and sophomore Ekaterina Khairutdinova. With the score at 3-2 Florida, the Gators needed a win from either Gailis or Dahlstrom to win the match.

The victory ultimately came from Gailis, who edged out FIU’s Ginyna in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 thriller. That gave Florida a 4-2 win and put them in Sunday’s championship. Thornqvist was impressed with the Gators’ resilience in what was a nail-biting contest.

“We were able to slowly turn the tide and big credit to FIU on how they played,” said Thornqvist. “I liked what I saw out of our team, it just shows that we’ll be able to handle some of these tight matches and that’s what you need if you want to be a championship team.”

With Florida’s ticket already punched, the San Diego Toreros scored a 4-0 victory in their match over Wake Forest Saturday afternoon to also find themselves in the weekend championship.

The championship match between the two ranked squads started almost an hour behind schedule after Wake Forest and FIU’s consolation match went long. However, when they hit the court, both squads came out firing. 

In the doubles portion of the championship, Florida’s pair of Rowinska and Lopez continued their unbeaten stretch this season, defeating San Diego’s De Las Heras and senior Jordyn McBride 6-3 on court two.

Meanwhile, on Court 3, San Diego’s redshirt junior Kailey Evans and Kristina Nordikyan cruised to a victory over Florida’s Dahlstrom and Gailis 6-1. 

The doubles point ultimately came down to an intense contest on Court 1 between Florida’s Dudeney and Spee and San Diego’s pair of redshirt senior Elizabeth Goldsmith and sophomore Mia Mack. 

Goldsmith and Mack quickly stormed out to a three-game lead, but Dudeney and Spee did not quit, mounting a comeback that eventually led to a tiebreaker. Eventually, Dudeney and Spee prevailed to win the set 7-6 and give the Gators a 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

Before singles play began, the Gators were forced to make lineup changes as De Oliveira was scratched after warmups due to injury.

Florida’s other singles victories on Sunday included Gailis picking up a win against Mack. Gailis cruised to a first-set victory, but Mack mounted a  comeback in the second set after finding herself on the brink of defeat multiple times. The set went to a tiebreaker, where Gailis ultimately came out victorious 6-2, 7-6.

Then, on Court 4, Dudeney continued her hot stretch with another victory, this time over San Diego senior Abigail Desiatnikov 6-3, 6-4. The two wins put the Gators only one win away from securing the victory.

However, the Toreros were not going away without a fight, managing to score three impressive singles victories. Rowinska, who made her Gators singles debut due to De Oliveira’s injury, fell on Court 6 against San Diego’s Evans in two sets, 7-5, 6-2.

Meanwhile on Court 5, Florida’s Lopez ultimately came out on the wrong side of her matchup with San Diego’s McBride, who edged out the first set and kept the momentum going in the second to secure a 7-6, 6-1 win. 

On Court 3, San Diego’s Goldsmith defeated Florida’s Dahlstrom after she retired due to injury during the first set. Dahlstrom later returned to the court on crutches to cheer on her Gator teammates.

After Briggs secured her victory, her teammates and coaches stormed her with hugs, singing the Gator fight song and taking a picture with their ticket to Seattle.

Florida will be back in action  Saturday when they face Florida State at 5 p.m. in a neutral site matchup in Lake Nona, Florida.

Contact Max Bernstein at [email protected]. Follow him on X @maxbernstein23.