Florida Gators
William & Mary
No. 13 Florida Opens 2015 with 9-3 Victory Over William & Mary
Saturday, January 10, 2015 | Men's Tennis
The No. 13-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team kicked off the 2015 season with a 9-3 victory over William & Mary this afternoon at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators improved to 3-0 overall against the Tribe.
In today's event, each individual matchup earned the victorious team one point. The Gators earned three doubles points out of four matches played and six of eight available singles points.
UF started the morning with a victory at No. 2 doubles, as No. 49 Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin defeated Will Juggins and Lars de Boer, 10-2, to give the Gators an early lead. In their first collegiate dual match doubles event, No. 43-ranked redshirt freshmen Oliver Landert and Josh Wardell picked up the second doubles win for the Orange & Blue at the No. 4 spot, 10-6. Juniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson, Florida's top-ranked duo at No. 32, closed the doubles event with a 10-6 win to put the home team ahead, 3-1.
In singles, No. 81 Orkin and No. 60 Hidalgo went straight to work, clinching their respective singles matches in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions in straight sets (6-4, 6-2 and 6-1, 6-3). Freshman Chase Perez-Blanco earned his first collegiate dual match singles victory, when he topped the Tribe's Addison Appleby, 6-4, 6-2, in the No. 4 slot.
Landert secured the match victory for the Gators in the No. 5 position, defeating William & Mary's Scott Huang, 6-2, 6-3.
Freshman Jordan Belga and No. 34-ranked Lipman needed three sets to claim their singles wins. Belga trailed early in his first set versus Alec Miller, but rallied back to win it, 6-4. The rookie dropped the middle set, 6-0, but was able to swing the momentum back in his favor as he stole the third set, 6-1.
It was an exciting battle of the No. 1 singles players on center court, as Lipman and William & Mary's Christian Cargill needed tie-breaks to decide the first two sets. Lipman captured the first set, 7-6 (3), but dropped the second to Cargill 6-7 (6). Lipman strategized and made the necessary adjustments to defeat his opponent in the third, 6-3, and secure the win.
The Gators continue dual match competition at home, when they host Troy on Friday, Jan. 16 at 3 p.m. at the Ring Tennis Complex.
| 2015 University of Florida Men's Tennis | ||||||
| Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex | ||||||
| Gainesville, Florida | ||||||
| Saturday, January 10, 2015 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | William & Mary | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| Gordon Watson (32) | Christian Cargill | |||||
| No. 1 - | Diego Hidalgo (32) | Aaron Chaffee | UF | 10-6 (:55) | ||
| Maxx Lipman (49) | Will Juggins | |||||
| No. 2 - | Elliott Orkin (49) | Lars de Boer | UF | 10-2 (:42) | ||
| Richard Brej | Addison Appleby | |||||
| No. 3 - | Chase Perez-Blanco | Damon Niquet | W&M | 10-3 (:54) | ||
|
No. 4 - | Oliver Landert (43) Josh Wardell (43) | Alec Miller Scott Huang | UF | 10-6 (:55) | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | William & Mary | Winner |
| Score (match length) |
| No. 1 - | Maxx Lipman (34) | Christian Cargill | UF | 7-6 (3), 6-7 (6), 6-3 (2:33) | ||
| No. 2 - | Elliott Orkin (81) | Will Juggins | UF | 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 (1:29) | ||
| No. 3 - | Diego Hidalgo (60) | Damon Niquet | UF | 6-1, 6-3, 6-4 (1:25) | ||
| No. 4 - | Chase Perez-Blanco | Addison Appleby | UF | 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 (1:36) | ||
| No. 5 - | Oliver Landert | Scott Huang | UF* | 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (2:15) | ||
| No. 6 - | Jordan Belga | Alec Miller | UF | 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 (1:36) | ||
| No. 7 - | Josh Wardell | Lars de Boer | W&M | 7-6, 7-5, 5-7 (1:41) | ||
| No. 8 - | Richard Brej | Aaron Chaffee | W&M | 7-6, 6-3, 3-6 (1:55) | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida - 9 | William & Mary - 3 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 1-0 | William & Mary 1-1 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 2, 3, 4, 1 | Singles: 3, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 5, 1 | ||||
| Attendance: | 85 | |||||
Quotes from the Match
Shelton's Notes – Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On today's overall performance…
We had four or five days to come back and practice [after the holiday] before our first match and it's not going to be perfect. We've just got to get better from here. In singles, I thought everybody looked pretty good. There were no real surprises there. I think Maxx Lipman played extremely well against a very good player from William & Mary, Christian Cargill. That guy could play and that was an outstanding match. It was nice to see Maxx play better as the match went along, especially in the third set, and get it done.
On this young team's first dual match of the season…
We had five guys that were out there playing in their first dual match for the University of Florida, so to have five guys playing singles for the first time and to do as well as they did I was pretty pleased.
On Maxx Lipman's exemplary leadership in a tough three-set match…
It was great that he was one of the last matches on the court so that players who had finished could go watch the end of that match and see him playing so well from all areas of the court. Not only did he serve well, but he returned well. Those are the two most important shots of the game and he did them extremely well in the third set. He played an all-court game. He set up the point from the back and found his way to the net and executed when he got there, short or deep. So I think that's good for our guys to see him, in that role as a leader, playing number one out there and executing the way he did.
Sophomore Captain Maxx Lipman
On toughing it out in a three-set match…
We had wins on five other courts, so you see all the guys having won their matches and it gives me a lot of confidence going into my third set. Basically, it started when all the other guys finished so I kind of knew that I had my whole team cheering me on and that gives me a boost of confidence.
On what the team can learn from today's match…
Starting with doubles, the format will be a lot shorter on Friday, so we just need to double the energy we had today and I think we'll come out and play much better than we did today. In singles, everyone played well today but next week I think the guys will play better because we have one match under our belt. They'll have a little bit more experience. There were a lot of new guys out there today and they were a little bit nervous, but I think next week it'll be a bit of a different feel and an even better Florida Gators men's team.
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