Gators Fall to No. 2 Buckeyes

Sunday, February 26

Gainesville, FL

12:00 PM

Florida Gators

#2 Ohio State

Joshua Wardell and Chase Perez-Blanco earned the first doubles win for the Gators (Photo: Aaron Albright / UAA Communications)

Gators Fall to No. 2 Buckeyes

Sunday, February 26, 2017 | Men's Tennis

Photo Galley by Aaron Albright

By: Kelsey Bibik

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 10 Florida men's tennis team fell to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes in a taxing 4-1 match at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. After winning the doubles point, the Gators were unable to pull out the win as Ohio State earned four singles wins in a row to clinch the match.

In doubles play, the duo of Joshua Wardell and Chase Perez-Blanco defeated Ohio State's Matt Mendez and Hunter Tubert in a quick 6-2 match. The No. 9 team of Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez pulled out a huge 7-5 win over No. 20 Torpegaard/Pollanen to clinch the doubles point for Florida.

In the singles competition, the Buckeyes earned four wins in a row to come back and take the match from the Gators. On court 4, No. 56 Herkko Pollanen defeated Ingildsen 6-1, 6-2 to tie the match 1-1. In the No. 1 position, Perez fought a tough battle against the highest ranked singles player in the country, Mikael Torpegaard, but fell 6-4, 6-3 in the end to help the Buckeye stay undefeated in dual match play this season.

The third team point for Ohio State came from the No. 6 position, where Kyle Seelig defeated No. 120 Jordan Belga 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 after Belga fought back to win a tough second set. The fourth and final point came from the No. 2 position, where Perez-Blanco dropped a heartbreaking match to No. 3 Hugo Di Feo.

Ohio State is the final ranked team that the Gators will face in February, and the last out-of-conference opponent it will see in the 2017 dual season. Florida begins SEC play next, as it will host Texas A&M on Friday, March 3^rd and LSU on Sunday, March 5^th.

No. 2 Ohio State 4, No. 10 Florida 1
Sunday, February 26, 2017 | 12 PM
Gainesville, Fla.

Doubles (Order of finish: 3, 1)
1. #9 Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. #20 Mikael Torpegaard/Herkko Pollanen (OSU), 7-5
2. Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin (UF) vs. #56 Martin Joyce/Hugo Di Feo (OSU), DNF (6-5 UF)
3. Joshua Wardell/Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Matt Mendez/Hunter Tubert (OSU), 6-2

Singles (Order of finish: 4, 1, 6, 2)
1. #1 Mikael Torpegaard (OSU) def. #6 Alfredo Perez (UF), 6-4, 6-3
2. #3 Hugo Di Feo (OSU) def. Chase Perez-Blanco (UF), 2-6, 7-6, 6-1
3. 392 Elliott Orkin (UF) vs. JJ Wolf (OSU), DNF (7-5, 4-6, 4-3 OSU)
4. #56 Herkko Pollanen (OSU) def. Johannes Ingildsen (UF), 6-1, 6-2
5. Maxx Lipman (UF) vs. #88 Martin Joyce (OSU), DNF (6-4, 4-6, 4-2 UF)
6. Kyle Seelig (OSU) def. #120 Jordan Belga (UF), 6-2, 3-6, 6-1

Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the matchup of Alfredo Perez and Mikael Torpegaard…
"I thought that Alfredo was sometimes rushing a little bit, trying to get forward a little too quickly at times without setting up the points, and against that player, you've got to hit quality shots. You've got to push him and you've got to stretch him and get the ball out of his strike zone. I think Alfredo would love another opportunity to play him later in the season, hopefully we get a chance at the NCAA tournament, but my hat's off to him. I think Mikael is a great player and he came with great fire and great energy from the start of the match to the end of the match."

On how Chase Perez-Blanco handled Hugo Di Feo…
"I think Chase came out and played ball, he played some high level tennis. It started with doubles – No. 3 doubles was lights out today, and that's as good as we've had all year, especially from that spot, they just came out and lit it up. A lot of momentum he had going into singles was coming from what he did in doubles, and he came out and set the tone early with an early break, and was able to close out that first set in style. Then he gave himself the chance to serve out the match twice, at 5-4 in the second and again at 6-5, and all of a sudden he blinked. He just backed off a little bit and that's all it takes, if you back off an inch these guys at this level will seize the opportunity.
"Chase is playing some good ball, he's playing really well, he's moving well, he's playing smart, he's showing that he's got an all-court game, he's just got to be able to sustain it and finish."

On how Ohio State was able to pull out a win after traveling after the National Team Indoor Championships…
"I think that what they did was really tough to do. To go all the way through the National Team Indoors, there's a lot of stress that's involved in these matches, not just the physical part but the mental part as well. To bounce back and get excited after wins and then come back down, recover, and prepare the body the next day – it's tough to do that two days in a row, much less three, and they did for four days at the highest level. Then to turn around and go home from there, and then get back on the road and come south and play outdoors, it tells you just how good those guys really are."

Junior Jordan Belga
On how Ohio State was able to pull out four singles wins after losing the doubles point…
"I think they definitely came back strong in singles, after the doubles point they probably felt a little more motivated to come out strong and fight back in the singles and they definitely came out fighting. We were all grinding, we were all battling, they were just better in the big moments today."

On how competing with a team like Ohio State affects the team's confidence…
"It shows us how much potential we have as a team, and that we can definitely keep climbing up the rankings. We're already a top 10 team, but we can definitely aim for those top five teams for sure. I think we just need to continue to put in the hard work, continue to encourage each other to work hard and time will tell for us."

Senior Elliott Orkin
"I think we expected to win this match, especially with a schedule like Coach [Shelton] has put together with an out of conference schedule that is probably the hardest in the country. We had USC and UCLA here a few weeks ago, those are two top 10 teams and we beat them. We played Virginia away, we played three top 20 teams at Indoors, then come back here and play Ohio State. We've seen the best competition in the country, and we've seen that we're just as good as these teams if not better. So even though they're ranked No. 2, especially on our home court and playing outside where we're more comfortable, we thought we would win the match for sure."

Up Next for the Gators
Florida will begin SEC play next weekend, as both Texas A&M and LSU coming to Gainesville. The Gators will host the Aggies Friday, March 3 at 5 pm, and the Tigers on Sunday, March 5^th at noon.

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