No. 26 Alabama lost its third consecutive SEC match to No. 2 Florida 7-0, which drops Alabama to 13-9 overall and 3-7 in SEC play.

“Florida is number two in the country and number one in the conference for a reason,” head coach George Husack said. “For a moment there I thought we had a chance to win the four remaining matches, so I think that is something to build on for this Sunday. South Carolina is really good, and Arkansas is too. But I think we need to keep building and forging ahead. We’re getting better. We got great productivity out of Mazen [Osama] and Patrick [Kaukovalta] today and if we get that, then we’re going to be a tough squad.”

In the doubles point, Florida quickly won on court No. 2 6-1, putting pressure on Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s doubles pair of senior Mazen Osama and sophomore Patrick Kaukovalta, the 28^th-ranked doubles pair in the country, responded with a 6-3 win. On court No. 3, juniors Edson Ortiz and Riccardo Roberto couldn’t overcome a late service break by the Gators, giving Florida a 1-0 lead going into singles.

“Doubles can get better, but it is just a difference of a few points,” Husack said.

The Crimson Tide started slowly in the singles play by winning only one of the six first sets. Osama was the sole winner of his first set by breaking serve at 5-5 and eventually winning the set 7-5.

In the second set, the match began to turn in the Crimson Tide’s favor. Kaukovalta and junior Zhe Zhou won their seconds sets in commanding fashion to push their matches into a third set. But Florida was unfazed by the pressure as they won matches on court No. 2, 4, and 6 to clinch the match.

Alabama decided to finish the three remaining matches featuring Osama, Kaukovalta, and Zhou even though the match was clinched. Osama’s serve was broken in the last game of the second set, which resulted in his opponent winning the second set and the match going into a “first to ten points” tiebreaker. In a back and forth battle, Osama was defeated 7-5, 4-6, 0-1 (8-10). Kaukovalta and Zhou were defeated in their tiebreakers as well.

“Mazen and Patrick responded incredibly well from last weekend,” Husack said. “Sunday was a tough one for them and if they compete like [they did tonight], this is really the level of standard they want to have for each other.”

The next match for Alabama will be home matchup against South Carolina at 1 P.M on Sunday.