University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Florida
#11 Lady Vols Drop Heartbreaker to #23 Gators, 4-2
March 14, 2026 | Women's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 11 University of Tennessee women's tennis team (8-4, 4-3) fell, 4-2, to the No. 23 Florida Gators (10-3, 5-2) Saturday afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. Despite securing the first two points of the dual, Tennessee dropped the final four singles decisions in what became a four-plus hour match.
"I'm proud of our team," Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. "We got better in doubles this weekend and that will prove to be instrumental as we continue throughout the season.
"The match could've gone either way," Ojeda continued. "Fran [Mattioli] had a match point late in the tiebreaker and so did Katrina [Scott], so we literally did all the right things to put ourselves in position to win that match as a team. But, for reasons out of our control, it didn't happen that way."
The Lady Vols opened the day with a win of the doubles point. Tennessee's No. 30 Catherine Aulia/Leyla Britez Risso tandem took court two by a 7-5 margin, marking the duo's first win since Feb. 8 against Oklahoma State.
Tennessee's Francesca Mattioli and Vanesa Suarez sealed the first point with their win on court one, a 7-6 (8-6) decision that featured a back-and-forth tiebreaker game.
To open singles play, the Lady Vols claimed three first sets. No. 20 Britez Risso logged a 6-0 first set on court three and followed up the flawless stanza with a near-perfect 6-1 second set. Her win over No. 26 Gabia Paskauskas delivered Tennessee a 2-0 lead in the dual and extended her own singles win streak to 13 matches, including a 10-0 start with four ranked wins in dual competition.
The Gators, though, took the next three points via straight-sets victories on courts two, four and six. Tennessee, thus, needed to win both remaining matches, on courts one and five.
On the latter, No. 105 Mattioli earned a 6-4 win of the first set before surrendering a 3-6 decision to the Gators' No. 88 Lucie Pawlak in the second. In the decisive final set, Mattioli fell into a 3-5 deficit—and faced triple-break match-point—but managed to claw her way back to a 5-5 score and go on to force a tiebreak game. In the final game, the two traded blows to an 8-8 score before Mattioli reached a 9-8 edge, serving for the match.
The rally ended as Pawlak returned a ball to Mattioli's left near the sideline. Mattioli called it out but was overruled by the official. The overruled decision was Mattioli's third of the match which, by rule, resulted in a game penalty, thus awarding Pawlak the tiebreak game, the third set, the match and the winning fourth point for the Gators.
Tennessee's Katrina Scott held a 3-2 lead, up a break, on court one over Florida's No. 103 India Houghton before the match was halted.
The Lady Vols return to action Friday, March 20, for an 11 a.m. ET match at No. 5 Texas A&M, before heading to Austin to face the No. 9 Texas Longhorns at 1 p.m. ET.
Players Mentioned
