Friday, March 3
Gainesville, FL
5:00 PM
Florida Gators
3
vs
4
#27 Texas A&M
Elliott Orkin earned a win for the Gators in the No. 2 singles position, defeating the Aggies' AJ Catanzariti (Photo: Courtney Culbreath / UAA Communications)
Gators Drop SEC Home Opener to Texas A&M
Friday, March 3, 2017 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. โ The No. 13 Florida Gators lost their SEC home opener to the No. 27 Texas A&M Aggies at home on Friday night, losing in a 4-3 fight to the end. The Gators won the doubles point and two singles matches, but couldn't hold back the Aggies from picking up four singles wins to take the match.
In doubles play, the Aggies' Aleksandre Bakshi and Hady Habib took down the Gators' team of Joshua Wardell and Chase Perez-Blanco 6-4. Florida's Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin came back to win their match in the No. 2 position, defeating Jordi Arconada and AJ Catanzariti 6-4. The 9th-ranked duo of Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez fought to clinch the doubles point for the Gators, defeating Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot 6-3 to give Florida the 1-0 lead.
In singles play, every court saw tough competition. Perez-Blanco bounced back after a tough loss against Ohio State to earn the first singles win for Florida, defeating Texas A&M's Max Lunkin 6-2, 6-2. The Aggies retaliated, earning two wins against Lipman and No. 120 Jordan Belga to tie the team score 2-2.
The two teams split the next two matches, with No. 92 Orkin earning a highly contested win in the No. 2 position and No. 16 Rinderknech taking down Florida's No. 6 Perez in the No. 1 position.
With the match reliant on the battle on court 4, Ingildsen and Arconada fought a three-set match to clinch the final point. Although Ingildsen took the first set 6-4 and fought hard throughout the 7-6 second set, Arconada pulled away to clinch the match for the Aggies.
ย
Quoting Head Coach Bryan Shelton
"I credit Texas A&M, they came in and fought hard, and even with losing the doubles point they were able to mount a surge. I felt like we had a hard time getting them uncomfortable out there tonight, and I thought that they just executed better than us down the stretch. I don't think it was a lack of fight for our guys, we just didn't come up with the plays when we needed to make the plays, and they did.
"It's early, it's our first SEC match. We hate that we lost, but I know our guys are motivated to get back out there come Sunday."
On Johannes Ingildsen's performance in his singles match against Arconadaโฆ
"He's a winner. He lost the match tonight but he's a winner. To see him in that position and see how well he stayed composed. He didn't look like a freshman out there playing, he looked like he had more experience than that the way he played aggressively. That's something that's not natural for him to step up and play so aggressively, and I was really proud to see him doing that tonight, even in a loss. I think he gained a lot of valuable experience from that match tonight, especially being the decider."
On the locker room after the loss and looking ahead to Sundayโฆ
"I'm trying to help them pick up their heads. It was a dejected locker room for sure, it hurts. I think it hurts because they're investing in the process, and I think when you're invested and you're taking responsibility it tends to hurt a little more. But as long as the hurt leads to motivation which ends up driving their character further, I think the performances will get better and better.
"We've got to bounce back, we've got no choice. Being resilient is what this team is all about. We've played a very tough schedule and we've lost some matches, but in the end it's going to be good for us. We have just got to keep learning from the mistakes we're making and keep working to get better."
ย
Up Next for the Gators
Florida will host the LSU Tigers in their second SEC match of the season on Sunday, March 5th at 1:00 pm.
Follow the Gators
Join the conversation:ย Tweet #GoGatorsย
Twitterย |ย Instagramย |ย Facebook
FloridaGators.com
ย
In doubles play, the Aggies' Aleksandre Bakshi and Hady Habib took down the Gators' team of Joshua Wardell and Chase Perez-Blanco 6-4. Florida's Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin came back to win their match in the No. 2 position, defeating Jordi Arconada and AJ Catanzariti 6-4. The 9th-ranked duo of Johannes Ingildsen and Alfredo Perez fought to clinch the doubles point for the Gators, defeating Arthur Rinderknech and Valentin Vacherot 6-3 to give Florida the 1-0 lead.
In singles play, every court saw tough competition. Perez-Blanco bounced back after a tough loss against Ohio State to earn the first singles win for Florida, defeating Texas A&M's Max Lunkin 6-2, 6-2. The Aggies retaliated, earning two wins against Lipman and No. 120 Jordan Belga to tie the team score 2-2.
The two teams split the next two matches, with No. 92 Orkin earning a highly contested win in the No. 2 position and No. 16 Rinderknech taking down Florida's No. 6 Perez in the No. 1 position.
With the match reliant on the battle on court 4, Ingildsen and Arconada fought a three-set match to clinch the final point. Although Ingildsen took the first set 6-4 and fought hard throughout the 7-6 second set, Arconada pulled away to clinch the match for the Aggies.
ย
Quoting Head Coach Bryan Shelton
"I credit Texas A&M, they came in and fought hard, and even with losing the doubles point they were able to mount a surge. I felt like we had a hard time getting them uncomfortable out there tonight, and I thought that they just executed better than us down the stretch. I don't think it was a lack of fight for our guys, we just didn't come up with the plays when we needed to make the plays, and they did.
"It's early, it's our first SEC match. We hate that we lost, but I know our guys are motivated to get back out there come Sunday."
On Johannes Ingildsen's performance in his singles match against Arconadaโฆ
"He's a winner. He lost the match tonight but he's a winner. To see him in that position and see how well he stayed composed. He didn't look like a freshman out there playing, he looked like he had more experience than that the way he played aggressively. That's something that's not natural for him to step up and play so aggressively, and I was really proud to see him doing that tonight, even in a loss. I think he gained a lot of valuable experience from that match tonight, especially being the decider."
On the locker room after the loss and looking ahead to Sundayโฆ
"I'm trying to help them pick up their heads. It was a dejected locker room for sure, it hurts. I think it hurts because they're investing in the process, and I think when you're invested and you're taking responsibility it tends to hurt a little more. But as long as the hurt leads to motivation which ends up driving their character further, I think the performances will get better and better.
"We've got to bounce back, we've got no choice. Being resilient is what this team is all about. We've played a very tough schedule and we've lost some matches, but in the end it's going to be good for us. We have just got to keep learning from the mistakes we're making and keep working to get better."
ย
Up Next for the Gators
Florida will host the LSU Tigers in their second SEC match of the season on Sunday, March 5th at 1:00 pm.
Follow the Gators
Join the conversation:ย Tweet #GoGatorsย
Twitterย |ย Instagramย |ย Facebook
FloridaGators.com
ย
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
Inside Florida Gators Men's Tennis
Wednesday, July 17
One-on-One with Coach Steinberg 3-7-24
Thursday, March 07
Bryan Shelton Postmatch 2-2-23
Saturday, February 04
Jonah Braswell Postmatch 2-2-23
Saturday, February 04
