Florida Gators

BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Florida men's tennis team opened Southeastern Conference play with a 4-3 victory over the LSU Tigers on Friday night in Baton Rouge, La. Senior Diego Hidalgo clinched the victory for the Gators for the second consecutive match.

After dropping the doubles point, UF came storming back in the match on the singles courts. Freshman Alfredo Perez was the first off the court with a 6-0, 6-3 over Boris Arias. Gator captain Elliott Orkin then took the match over Justin Butsch, 6-3, 6-4 on court two. Fellow-freshman McClain Kessler defeated Andrew Korinek 7-5, 6-2 on six.

With the Gators up 3-1 in the match, it was senior Hidalgo for the second consecutive match who would clinch the match for the Orange and Blue. Hidalgo shutout No. 42 Jordan Daigle in the first set. The second set went to a tiebreak at six-all with the Gator taking the tiebreak 7-4 and the match for Florida.

UF will travel to College Station, Texas to take on the No. 8-ranked Texas A&M Aggies on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.

Head Coach Bryan Shelton 
On tonight's first SEC win for the Gators... 
"I am proud of our guys for coming back strong after losing the doubles point. We got off to such a good start in singles which shifted the match back in our favor. I was happy to see Diego clinch the match for us. Alfredo played some of his best tennis tonight and Elliott and McClain just competed like Gators. 

It doesn't get easier as we travel to Texas A&M for a huge conference match. It will take a team effort to get the job done there and I wouldn't want it any other way." 

Final Results
#30 Florida 4, #32 LSU 3
Doubles-Order of Finish: 1, 3*

1. #17 Daigle/Arias (LSU) def. #1 Hidalgo/Watson (UF) 6-3  
2. #32 Lipman/Orkin (UF) vs. Trinh/Butsch (LSU) 5-4, susp.
3. Csonka/Korinek (LSU) def. Perez/Wardell (UF) 6-3

Singles-Order of Finish: 4, 2, 6, 1*, 3, 5

1. #50 Diego Hidalgo (UF) def. #42 Jordan Daigle (LSU) 6-0, 7-6(4)
2. #22 Elliott Orkin (UF) def. Justin Butsch (LSU) 6-3, 6-4
3. Gabor Csonka (LSU) def. #30 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) 6-4, 7-5
4. #77 Alfredo Perez (UF) def. Boris Arias (LSU) 6-0, 6-3  
5. Nikola Samardzic (LSU) def. Gordon Watson (UF) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(1)
6. McClain Kessler (UF) def. Nikola Samardzic (LSU) 7-5, 6-2

 
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