Florida Gators
#31 Ole Miss
No. 13 Florida Drops Tough 4-3 Match to No. 31 Ole Miss
Saturday, January 24, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Gainesville, Fla. – The No. 13 University of Florida men's tennis team had opportunities to clinch, but could not capitalize when it truly needed a win, as the Gators fell to the No. 31 Ole Miss Rebels, 4-3, on day one of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend in Gainesville at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex Saturday.
No. 43-ranked redshirt freshman pairing Josh Wardell and Oliver Landert clinched the doubles point for the Gators with a 6-4 victory over Stefan Lindmark and Ricardo Jorge. No. 32 junior tandem Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson got the ball rolling, defeating Gustav Hansson and William Kallberg, 6-2, to set Florida up for success.
Freshman Chase Perez-Blanco gave the Gators a 2-0 lead after he quickly defeated Zvonimir Babic in the No. 6 position, 6-4, 6-2. No. 60 Hidalgo propelled the home team to a 3-0 advantage after topping Ole Miss' William Kallberg in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
The Rebels' No. 1 and No. 2 players ignited a comeback, however, with victories over Florida's No. 34 Maxx Lipman and No. 81 Elliott Orkin, making it a 3-2 match. Landert had an opportunity to clinch in the second set with No. 120 Ricardo Jorge after taking the first set, 6-3, but dropped the middle frame in a set tie-break, 6-7 (5). Jorge secured the match-tying win for the Rebels in set three, 6-4.
All eyes turned to Court Three where Watson and Ole Miss' Gustav Hansson split the first two sets, 6-7 (1), 6-3. It was a back and forth battle in the third, but the Rebels came out on top, 7-6 (5), and earned a place in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend championship with a 4-3 victory over the Gators.
The Gators return to action tomorrow in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend consolation match versus No. 30 Stanford at 9 a.m. on the back courts. The championship match between No. 31 Ole Miss and No. 27 South Carolina will be played at 11 a.m.
| 2015 University of Florida Men's Tennis | ||||||
| Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex | ||||||
| Gainesville, Florida | ||||||
| Saturday, January 24, 2015 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | Ole Miss | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| Gordon Watson (32) | Gustav Hansson | |||||
| No. 1 - | Diego Hidalgo (32) | William Kallberg | UF | 6-2 (:33) | ||
| Maxx Lipman (49) | Nicolaas Scholtz | |||||
| No. 2 - | Elliott Orkin (49) | Zvonimir Babic | OM | 6-2 (:29) | ||
| Oliver Landert (43) | Stefan Lindmark | |||||
| No. 3 - | Josh Wardell (43) | Ricardo Jorge | *UF | 6-4 (:37) | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | Ole Miss | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| No. 1 - | Maxx Lipman (34) | Nicolaas Scholtz | OM | 7-5, 6-3 (1:33) | ||
| No. 2 - | Elliott Orkin (81) | Stefan Lindmark (80) | OM | 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 (1:48) | ||
| No. 3 - | Gordon Watson | Gustav Hansson | *OM | 6-7(1), 6-3, 7-6(5) (2:30) | ||
| No. 4 - | Diego Hidalgo (60) | William Kallberg | UF | 6-3, 6-3 (1:16) | ||
| No. 5 - | Chase Perez-Blanco | Zvonimir Babic | UF | 6-4, 6-2 (1:06) | ||
| No. 6 - | Oliver Landert | Ricardo Jorge (120) | OM | 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 (2:13) | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida - 3 | Ole Miss - 4 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 2-1 | Ole Miss 2-0 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 2, 1, 3 | Singles: 5, 4, 1, 2, 6, 3 | ||||
| Attendance: 111 | ||||||
Quotes from the Match
Shelton's Notes – Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On what can be learned from today's loss and improved upon moving forward…
You've got to give Ole Miss credit for never giving up and hanging in when it looked bleak for them. We simply did not finish the job today. Having large leads in three out of four matches and not sealing the deal was a tough lesson to learn. It's early in the season and we'll be better for having to go through this one. Tomorrow is a new day with another great opportunity against a very good Stanford team. Our guys are resilient and they'll bounce back. Moving forward, we really need to reduce the number of unforced errors, which really cost us today.
On the positives for Florida in today's match…
It was nice to see our guys play well in the doubles. Diego [Hidalgo] and Chase [Perez-Blanco] also did a nice job finishing their matches in straight sets.
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