The big bright scoreboard in the middle of the tennis stadium went pitch black during the women’s match between Alabama and Florida Thursday night. Maybe it was a good thing, so the audience couldn’t see the score.

It took the crew over an hour to fix the scoreboard, but moments after scores were back on the board Alabama suffered it’s sixth straight SEC loss.

The Crimson Tide were swept by No. 18 and reigning NCAA champions Florida Gators 4-0. This loss drops it to 13-8 on the season, a once promising start is well in the rear view mirror for Alabama. In the midst of this six game losing streak in conference play, head coach Jenny Mainz believes there’s no other way to put it, the team must get better.

“We have to focus on getting better every week, we can’t go away,” Mainz said. “We’re going to have to continue to do the right things Monday through Friday, yeah we’re going through a tough time right now but we can finish strong and right the ending of our story”.

In doubles, the Crimson Tide got off to a slow start losing their first two matches which gave Florida the early 1-0 lead. Mainz emphasized after the match how crucial it is for the team to get started early and get that doubles point.

When it was time for singles, Florida didn’t miss a beat as they went on to win three straight matches. Alabama junior Andie Daniell gave Anna Danilina, who is ranked No. 19 a hard fought match, but Danilina prevailed at the end, winning 6-2, 6-1.

Out of the 14 teams in the SEC, 12 are ranked nationally. Up next for the Crimson Tide is No. 10 South Carolina Saturday afternoon.

“I like how we’re still competing hard regardless of the outcome, and I know eventually our hard work is going to pay off,” Senior Smith Hinton said.