Florida Gators
#74 Kentucky - SEC Tournament First Round
Gators Topple Kentucky to Advance to SEC Tournament Quarterfinals
Thursday, April 16, 2015 | Men's Tennis
SEC Tournament Central Page
COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The University of Florida men's tennis team fought for two-plus hours and downed Kentucky, 4-2, in the second round of the SEC Tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas on Thursday morning.
The No. 6 seed Gators will now take on No. 3 seed Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. That match is scheduled to be played tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET.
UF took the lead early with dominant doubles play, as the nation's No. 50 pairing of juniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson clinched the doubles point for Florida with a 6-3 win at the No. 2 position. The No. 51 tandem of sophomores Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin earned the first doubles point for UF after beating UK's No. 69 team of Jerry Lopez and Nils Ellefsen by the same score.
In singles, UK won on courts one and two, while freshman Chase Perez-Blanco won the No. 4 singles match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. With the match knotted at 2-2, sophomore Maxx Lipman gave UF a 3-2 lead with a straight-set win in the No. 5 match, 6-3, 6-4.
Watson clinched the match for UF by winning two closely contested sets (7-6, 7-6) over UK's Trey Yates in the No. 3 spot.
The SEC Tournament format consists of a single-elimination tournament of six singles and three doubles. Once a team clinches the match, all play stops immediately for matches in progress. There will be no consolation matches. Singles and doubles champions shall not be named. Complete information about the tournament, including links for live scoring, can be found online through Texas A&M's website, www.12thman.com.
| 2015 University of Florida Men's Tennis | ||||||
| Mitchell Tennis Center | ||||||
| College Station, Texas | ||||||
| Thursday, April 16, 2015 | ||||||
| Doubles | FLORIDA | vs | KENTUCKY | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| Maxx Lipman (51) | Jerry Lopez (69) | |||||
| No. 1 - | Elliott Orkin (51) | Nils Ellefsen (69) | UF | 6-3 | ||
| Diego Hidalgo (50) | Kevin Lai | |||||
| No. 2 - | Gordon Watson (50) | Gus Benson | UF* | 6-3 | ||
| Chase Perez-Blanco | William Bushamuka | |||||
| No. 3 - | Joshua Wardell | Trey Yates | DNF | 5-4, DNF | ||
| Singles | FLORIDA | vs | KENTUCKY | Winner |
| Score/match length |
| No. 1 - | Diego Hidalgo (53) | Jerry Lopez | UK | 6-4, 6-3 | ||
| No. 2 - | Elliott Orkin (116) | William Bushamuka | UK | 6-2, 6-2 | ||
| No. 3 - | Gordon Watson | Trey Yates | UF* | 7-6, 7-6 | ||
| No. 4 - | Chase Perez-Blanco | Nils Ellefsen | UF | 6-3, 6-4 | ||
| No. 5 - | Maxx Lipman (120) | Kevin Lai | UF | 6-3, 6-4 | ||
| No. 6 - | Joshua Wardell | Jake Stefanik | DNF | 7-5, 2-7, DNF | ||
| FINAL SCORE: | Florida – 4 | Kentucky – 2 | * Clinched victory | |||
| Records: | Florida 14-7 | Kentucky 14-16 | ||||
| Order of Finish: | Doubles: 1, 2* | Singles: 2, 4, 1, 5, 3* | ||||
| Attendance: NA | ||||||
Quotes from the Match
Shelton's Notes – Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On today's win…
“Overall, I just really pleased that we were able to advance. We came out and played good doubles. It was nice to get off to a good start in the match. We played them (Kentucky) just this past Friday and we lost that same point. All three [doubles] teams came out ready to play and they played really well. In singles play, they certainly didn't go away. It was one of those matches where we weren't playing our very best, but we were competing hard. It wasn't pretty in a lot of places but we were able to advance by getting the necessary points over a gritty Kentucky team.”
On Mississippi State…
“I'm looking forward to the match tomorrow against Mississippi State. We know those guys well, so we are going have to get some rest and be ready to go tomorrow.”
Florida vs. Kentucky:
UF extended its all-time lead versus UK to 45-14 with today's win, including a 6-0 mark in the SEC Tourney.
Leading the Way:
Rookie Chase Perez-Blanco and sophomore Maxx Lipman and junior Gordon Watson all recorded singles victories for the Gators to clinch today's match. Perez-Blanco now has a team-high 25 singles victories this season.
It Takes Two:
No. 51 Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin took down its second-straight ranked opponent as they beat UK's No. 69-ranked Jerry Lopez and Nils Ellefsen, 6-3. This past Sunday, the two Gators downed the then-No. 3 doubles team in the country, Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese of Tennessee, 6-4.
Looking Ahead:
#17 Florida (14-7) vs. #20 Mississippi State (18-6)
Friday, April 17 at 1 p.m. ET
Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, Texas
Live Stats: http://statb.us/e/89257
Notes: http://www.gatorzone.com/tennis/men/stats/notes/pre/20150416130000.pdf
SEC Tournament History:
Florida is 32-18 at the SEC Tournament since team play was initiated in 1990. UF is 3-2 all-time against Mississippi State at the SEC Tourney.
