Photos from the match: http://www.gatorzone.com/gallery/?sport=tennm
GAINESVILLE, Fla.—Freshman Elliott Orkin, playing in his first collegiate dual-match, clinched the victory for the Florida men's tennis team on Wednesday in its season-opener against North Florida. After dropping the doubles point, the Gators won five of six singles matches to earn the 5-2 win, with Orkin clinching the match at No. 4 singles.
UNF opened the afternoon with a win at No. 2 doubles, but Florent Diep and Maxx Lipman answered for Florida with a win at No. 3 doubles. The deciding match on court one came down to a tiebreak, with UNF clinching the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead.
In singles, senior Spencer Newman returned to action for UF and won in straight sets to even the match at 1-1. Newman, who played at No. 1 singles, had to sit out the 2013 season after transferring to Michigan in the fall of 2012 and then back to Florida in 2013.
Diep gave the Gators a 2-1 lead with a win at No. 5 singles, followed by Mike Alford winning on court six for a 3-1 UF lead. UNF didn't go down without a fight though, as the Ospreys won on court two and forced a third set on courts three and four.
After winning a tiebreak in the first set, Orkin dropped the second set and went to a third with the match on the line. He overcame some nerves and pulled out the third set 6-4 to provide the clinching point in the match.
Finishing things off, Stephane Piro bounced back after losing the first set 4-6 to win at No. 3 singles with matching 6-3 scores in the second and third sets.
| 2014 University of Florida Men's Tennis |
| Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex |
| Gainesville, Florida |
| Wednesday, January 22, 2013 |
| | | | | | |
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | UNF | Winner | | Score (match length) |
| Mike Alford | | Norbert Nemcsek | | | |
| No. 1 - | Stephane Piro | | Jack Findel-Hawkins | UNF* | | 6-5 (4) (:45) |
| Elliott Orkin (13) | | Caio Gomes | | | |
| No. 2 - | Gordon Watson (13) | | Yannick Zuern | UNF | | 6-2 (:29) |
| Florent Diep | | Zachary Goldberg | | | |
| No. 3 - | Maxx Lipman | | Pablo Tellez | UF | | 6-5 (4) (:40) |
| | | | | | |
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | UNF | Winner | | Score (match length) |
| No. 1 - | Spencer Newman | | Norbert Nemcsek | UF | | 6-4, 6-1 (1:15) |
| No. 2 - | Gordon Watson (111) | | Caio Gomes | UNF | | 6-3, 6-5 (4) (1:25) |
| No. 3 - | Stephane Piro (28) | | Jack Findel-Hawkins | UF | | 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 (1:56) |
| No. 4 - | Elliott Orkin (53) | | Yannick Zuern | UF* | | 6-5 (4), 2-6, 6-4 (1:51) |
| No. 5 - | Florent Diep | | Zachary Goldberg | UF | | 6-3, 6-2 (1:15) |
| No. 6 - | Mike Alford (116) | | Pablo Tellez | UF | | 6-3, 6-4 (1:24) |
| | | | | | |
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida - 5 | | UNF - 2 | | | * Clinched victory |
| Records: | Florida 1-0 | | UNF 0-1 | | | |
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 2, 3, 1 | | Singles: 1, 5, 6, 2, 4, 3 | | | |
| Attendance: | 106 | | | | | |
QUOTES FROM THE MATCH
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the first match:
I was happy that we battled. There's going to be times you don't play your best tennis, and if you can still win when you are a little bit off, I think that's important. For us, and for our team, it was a good test. I thought UNF came in here and went for it and played very well and executed well. For our home opener, we certainly felt the nerves out there on the court and it was a good match to get through that.
On areas of improvement:
Everything. Every day we want to get better. For our team, we came out there today and showed our nerves, being our first home match, even though we've gotten some good (tournament) matches in over the last couple of weekends. It's a little bit different when you're lining up next to your buddy, six in a row out there. It was a little bit different feel just because it was a dual match. A guy like Elliott Orkin, he's just been plowing through people but he just needed that first one to get through that. We'll see much better tennis out of him as we move forward.
On play of the seniors:
It's good. Our guys have been through some battles over the last couple of years so they're probably a little more prepared for that than the younger ones. It was good to see Elliott to clinch the match for us, I'm happy for that and happy for him, but it's certainly nice to have the seniors out there doing well.
On Elliott Orkin moving forward:
He certainly won't be as nervous. I think he'll loosen up and realize it's just a tennis match. He can put things in perspective a little bit and kind of laugh at himself, which he's already been doing in the locker room after the match. He knows that he played tight today. He knows he's a better player than he probably showed and I think he'll be anxious to get back out there. He's pretty good when he's got a chip on his shoulder, so I think he'll have a little bit of a chip in the next match and be ready to play.
On Florent Diep:
He's a guy that's played very high for us in the lineup in the past and had some success up there. I think he's a guy that has big weapons, with that big forehand and he can serve huge. When you have two big weapons like that and you're gaining confidence, you're a dangerous player and Flo's a dangerous player.
On Gordon Watson today:
He had a tough match. The guy that he played was pretty explosive and came out and got after him. Gordon got control of the match in the second set and then wasn't able to close it out. We've just got to get back to work.
Freshman Elliott Orkin
On clinching the match:
It's pretty awesome. I've been waiting to play college tennis for many years now and to clinch my first match is pretty cool.
On losing doubles but rebounding in singles:
In the doubles I was a little tight, and we actually lost six straight games to end the match. Going into singles I still had a little nerves. I didn't really loosen up, didn't really loosen up the whole match actually, so hopefully the next match this weekend I'll be able to play a little better.
On the problems in doubles:
I just think we weren't playing aggressive enough. We weren't making the balls that we normally make. Especially in doubles, if you're nervous and you're not moving at the net enough then that's a recipe for trouble.
On advice from the seniors:
They're all really good role models for me. They work really hard in practice. Spencer playing No. 1 for us is pretty cool for him, this being his first time back after he transferred. They gave me some tips before the match, things to expect in my first match. I took that into consideration and took it with me into the match.
On building on momentum from the win today:
We've just got to keep working hard in practice and this weekend we'll have two tough opponents. I'll have to bring my A game in to those matches to hopefully get a win. In doubles, me and my partner Gordon, we're going to have to play better than we did today. We'll see what happens.
On playing doubles with Gordon:
We had a lot of success in the fall, making it to the national indoors in New York. Gordon is an amazing doubles player. We're pretty different in doubles, he's really aggressive and I'm just more solid, which is what makes us a really good team I think. Today was a little dip in our normal results, but we'll be back at it this weekend.
Senior Spencer Newman
On his first match as a senior:
It was a little bit nerve-wracking. It was nice to settle in and get the win and get the point for the Gators.
On UNF:
They came with their best game today. They came with all the juice and everything that they needed and they made it tough for us.
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