Saturday, February 27
Gainesville, FL
1:00 PM
Florida Gators
7
vs
0
Florida State
Diego Hidalgo clinched the match on court one for the Gators with his win over No. 16 Benjamin Lock
Resilient Gators Sweep Seminoles
Saturday, February 27, 2016 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida men's tennis team pulled off an exciting sweep of in-state rival, Florida State, on Saturday in front of a big crowd at the Ring Tennis Complex. The Gators defeated the Seminoles, 7-0 to make it nine straight seasons that UF has won the Sunshine Showdown.
The doubles point proved to be a tough test for the Orange and Blue. After falling on Court One, juniors Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin would come back from down 5-3 to win four straight games and the match, 7-5 on court two. On court three, Alfredo Perez and Chase Perez-Blanco would go back and forth with FSU's Whitehurst and Gracia, but eventually a hard forehand down the line from Perez would give the tandem the match and UF the doubles point.
Singles action saw the Gators clinch the match in straight sets on three courts. McClain Kessler defeated Jose Gracia, 6-3, 6-4 and Gordon Watson defeated Terrance Whitehurst, 6-1, 6-4. Senior Diego Hidalgo clinched the match for the Gators with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on court one to seal the Gators' match win over their in-state foe.
The resiliency of the Gator team showed in the final three singles matches with each of the players dropping their respective first sets. Elliott Orkin went down 7-6(5) in the first set, but came storming back 6-1 in the second and defeated Marco Nunez 10-4 in the third set tiebreaker. The closest match of the day was on court five with Alfredo Perez falling in the first, 6-4. The Gator freshman would need to come back from down 4-2 in the second to split the sets with a score of 7-5. The third set tiebreaker would be won by Perez 10-8.
In the final match of the day, Perez-Blanco would edge out Michael Rinaldi in three sets. The Gator sophomore fell in the first set 6-3, only to win 7-5 in the second.
The tiebreaker would go in favor of Perez 10-3 and the Orange and Blue completed the sweep of the Seminoles.
UF will travel to Baton Rouge, La. to take on the LSU Tigers next Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the Gators' sweep of FSU today…
"It was a great day. I was really anxious to see how our guys would respond after a tough loss to Ohio State and how they would react to a tough Florida State team that came in here with a lot of energy and would be well-prepared. They are a talented group. I was really anxious to see what our guys would bring. I was really pleased with what I saw.
Getting down in the doubles early and then finding a way to hang in there long enough to turn it in our favor was huge. We have a lot of respect for how Florida State plays doubles. We knew that was going to be one of the toughest points of the day. It certainly was. To get that point with Maxx Lipman making some plays at the end of the set was huge. Also, Alfredo making some huge plays at the end of the set at No. 3 doubles to clinch the doubles for us. It was pretty sweet.
I thought we got off to a pretty good start in singles. Our guys were certainly motivated and a little bit nervous. We played through the nerves and through the tough patches out there in the singles and were able to secure wins on every court."
Sophomore Chase Perez-Blanco
On the doubles play this afternoon…
"It was a lot of fun. The energy was high. You could feel the crowd getting into it. Alfredo was playing some really good tennis. He saved me a couple times there. It was a lot of fun."
Final Results
Florida 7, Florida State 0
Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*
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The doubles point proved to be a tough test for the Orange and Blue. After falling on Court One, juniors Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin would come back from down 5-3 to win four straight games and the match, 7-5 on court two. On court three, Alfredo Perez and Chase Perez-Blanco would go back and forth with FSU's Whitehurst and Gracia, but eventually a hard forehand down the line from Perez would give the tandem the match and UF the doubles point.
Singles action saw the Gators clinch the match in straight sets on three courts. McClain Kessler defeated Jose Gracia, 6-3, 6-4 and Gordon Watson defeated Terrance Whitehurst, 6-1, 6-4. Senior Diego Hidalgo clinched the match for the Gators with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on court one to seal the Gators' match win over their in-state foe.
The resiliency of the Gator team showed in the final three singles matches with each of the players dropping their respective first sets. Elliott Orkin went down 7-6(5) in the first set, but came storming back 6-1 in the second and defeated Marco Nunez 10-4 in the third set tiebreaker. The closest match of the day was on court five with Alfredo Perez falling in the first, 6-4. The Gator freshman would need to come back from down 4-2 in the second to split the sets with a score of 7-5. The third set tiebreaker would be won by Perez 10-8.
In the final match of the day, Perez-Blanco would edge out Michael Rinaldi in three sets. The Gator sophomore fell in the first set 6-3, only to win 7-5 in the second.
The tiebreaker would go in favor of Perez 10-3 and the Orange and Blue completed the sweep of the Seminoles.
UF will travel to Baton Rouge, La. to take on the LSU Tigers next Friday at 6 p.m. ET.
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the Gators' sweep of FSU today…
"It was a great day. I was really anxious to see how our guys would respond after a tough loss to Ohio State and how they would react to a tough Florida State team that came in here with a lot of energy and would be well-prepared. They are a talented group. I was really anxious to see what our guys would bring. I was really pleased with what I saw.
Getting down in the doubles early and then finding a way to hang in there long enough to turn it in our favor was huge. We have a lot of respect for how Florida State plays doubles. We knew that was going to be one of the toughest points of the day. It certainly was. To get that point with Maxx Lipman making some plays at the end of the set was huge. Also, Alfredo making some huge plays at the end of the set at No. 3 doubles to clinch the doubles for us. It was pretty sweet.
I thought we got off to a pretty good start in singles. Our guys were certainly motivated and a little bit nervous. We played through the nerves and through the tough patches out there in the singles and were able to secure wins on every court."
Sophomore Chase Perez-Blanco
On the doubles play this afternoon…
"It was a lot of fun. The energy was high. You could feel the crowd getting into it. Alfredo was playing some really good tennis. He saved me a couple times there. It was a lot of fun."
Final Results
Florida 7, Florida State 0
Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3*
- Lock/Nunez (FSU) def. #1 Hidalgo/Watson (UF) 6-1
- #32 Lipman/Orkin (UF) def. Rinaldi/Dougaz (FSU) 7-5
- Perez/Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Whitehurst/Gracia (FSU) 7-6(3)
- #50 Diego Hidalgo (UF) def. #16 Benjamin Lock (FSU) 6-3, 6-4
- #22 Elliott Orkin (UF) def. #85 Marco Nunez (FSU) 6-7(5), 6-1, 1-0 (4)
- #30 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Michael Rinaldi (FSU) 3-6, 7-5, 1-0 (3)
- #77 Alfredo Perez (UF) def. Aziz Dougaz (FSU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0(8)
- Gordon Watson (UF) def. Terrance Whitehurst (FSU) 6-1, 6-4
- McClain Kessler (UF) def. Jose Gracia (FSU) 6-3, 6-4
Follow the Gators:
FloridaGators.com
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