GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 22 University of Florida men's tennis team swept the Furman Paladins on Saturday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators snapped a two match losing streak with the match victory.
The Gators grabbed the doubles point for the fourth match of the season. A new doubles pairing at the No. 3 position saw
Alfredo Perez and
Chase Perez-Blanco team up to sweep Rhodes and Steryous in what was the quickest doubles match. The newly No. 1-ranked tandem of
Diego Hidalgo and
Gordon Watson grabbed a doubles win over Horst and Browne, 6-3. Juniors
Maxx Lipman and
Elliott Orkin were the comeback kids of doubles on Saturday. Down 1-4 in their match on Court No. 2, the Gator tandem stormed back and grabbed the next five games to win the match, 6-4.
In singles action, Orkin and
McClain Kessler each swept a set against their respective opponents on the way to straight set victories. Perez-Blanco would clinch the match for the Orange and Blue with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Cameron Green on Court No. 3. The Gator sophomore was down 0-2 in the first set of his match but went on a 12-game streak to take the match over the Paladin.
Senior Watson would get his second singles victory of the season with a 6-3, 6-2 victory on Court No. 5 over Josh Pistorius. Fellow-senior Hidalgo would then defeat Adam Steryous, 6-2, 6-3. In the final singles match, Perez and Horst would split sets to force a 10-point tie-break. The Coral Gables native would win the tie-break, 10-6 and clinch the sweep for UF.
Up next, the Gators travel to Columbus, Ohio next weekend for a contest against No. 8 Ohio State. UF will take on OSU on Sunday at 1 p.m.
What Coach Shelton SaysOn the match this afternoon… "Overall, I was pleased with how we came out and competed. It seemed like we tried to do too much, too early. It has been a while since we have competed, so it was nice to see our guys to take their time and find their rhythm."
On Perez-Blanco's comeback victory in singles… "I think the big time with Chase is that we want those off days to still to be great, competitive days. He's just too good to lose any match quickly. For him, it is learning how to compete when he is not feeling 100 percent with his game. Obviously, he had a really good week in practice this week and played some good tennis and worked very hard. It was good to see him get out there and competing and playing well."
Final Results #22 Florida 7 (4-2), Furman 0 (3-4) Doubles-Order of Finish: 3, 1*, 2
- #1 Diego Hidalgo/Gordon Watson (UF) def. Ben Horst/Matt Browne (Furman) 6-3
- #54 Maxx Lipman/Elliott Orkin (UF) def. Cameron Green/Adam Steryous (Furman) 6-4
- Alfredo Perez/Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Stefan Rhodes/Alex Steryous (Furman) 6-0
Singles-Order of Finish: 2, 6, 3*, 5, 1, 4
- #48 Diego Hidalgo (UF) def. Adam Steryous (Furman) 6-2, 6-3
- #21 Elliott Orkin (UF) def. Matt Browne (Furman) 6-1, 6-2
- #88 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Cameron Green (Furman) 6-2, 6-0
- #54 Alfredo Perez (UF) def. Ben Horst (Furman) 6-1, 3-6, 1-0(6)
- Gordon Watson (UF) def. Josh Pistorius (Furman) 6-3, 6-2
- McClain Kessler (UF) def. Alex Steryous (Furman) 6-1, 6-0
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