By Stephen Mason
It was a lopsided affair Sunday afternoon when the struggling Tennessee Volunteers (9-12, 1-8 in SEC) hosted No. 20 Florida (12-9, 5-5 in SEC). From the start of doubles play to the match-clinching point, the Gators dominated the Volunteers, never conceding a set and winning the match 4-0.
After earning their first SEC win of the 2026 spring campaign last Sunday over Alabama, the Vols failed to bring any of that momentum into Sunday’s match. While they have already lost more than their share of SEC matches this season, this was the first one in which the Vols looked out of their league.
“It was the first match of the SEC season where we hadn’t shown up competitively. We didn’t win a set the whole day, which is not what we’re about. A very disappointing result,” Tennessee Associate Head Coach Matt Lucas said.
The struggles began in doubles play as the Gators dominated on all three courts. Doubles has been the Achilles’ heel for Tennessee this season; even in last Sunday’s victory, they dropped the doubles point. The coaching staff has put new lineups on the court every week, but nothing has stuck.
On Courts 1 and 2, the Gators quickly disposed of the Tennessee pairings: senior Ethan Muza with freshman Shion Itsusaki, and junior Jose Garcia with sophomore Siekanowicz, 6-1. These two victories secured the doubles point for Florida.
On Court 3, freshman Woodson McMillin and senior Buruch Skierkier were trailing the Gator duo of Andreas Timini and Kevin Edengren 5-3 when doubles play ended. With a lack of results on any of the courts today, the team will have to go back to the drawing board once again to come up with a new lineup.
“We’re not executing, we’re not playing the right way. We haven’t had any success in the doubles,” Lucas said.
The slow start in doubles prompted the coaching staff to make changes in the singles lineup. Itsusaki, who had won his singles match the prior week against Alabama, was taken out of the singles lineup this week after a poor showing in doubles.
“He was nonexistent in the doubles, so we made a change in the singles,” Lucas said.
However, the players who did make singles starts for Tennessee struggled on most of the six courts. Senior Alejandro Moreno was the only one able to keep it close, losing the first set 7-6 to Florida’s Lorenzo Claverie and leading the second set 2-1 when the match ended.
While Tennessee has struggled throughout the duals season, today’s loss was the ugliest one yet. Even after putting their first SEC victory in the win column the previous Sunday, the Vols looked like they never had a chance against the Gators.
“Losing is one thing, but we no-showed today, and that’s very disappointing to see from these guys,” Lucas said. “It’s less about the tennis and more about our competitive fight and spirit.”
Up Next: SEC play will only get more difficult for Tennessee next week as they play two top-10 road matches: at No. 3 Texas on March 27 and at No. 9 Texas A&M on March 29.