Friday, April 15
Gainesville, FL
5:00 PM
Florida Gators
7
vs
0
Kentucky
Gators Sweep Wildcats, 7-0, in Top-20 Clash
Friday, April 15, 2016 | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- The No. 13 University of Florida Men's Tennis team earned a 7-0 win over the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats on Friday night inside the Ring Tennis Complex. Tonight's victory marked UF's fifth win over a Top-25 opponent this season and lengthened the Gator's already stellar mark in the all-time series against UK, 46-14.
In doubles action, the No. 1-ranked tandem of seniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson claimed UF's first victory with a 6-2 win over Kentucky's Nils Ellefsen and Enzo Wallart. On court two, juniors Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman fell 6-2 to William Bushamuka and Trey Yates.
With the doubles point on the line, newcomer Alfredo Perez and sophomore Chase Perez-Blanco came through with a thrilling 6-3 performance on court three to seal doubles play and brought home a 1-0 lead for the Orange and Blue.
In singles play, the Florida Men swept all six solo matches. Orkin gave UF a 2-0 lead with a win over UK's Ellefsen on court three. The Marietta, Ga., native took the point with scores of 6-2 and 6-4 in straight sets. Perez-Blanco kept the momentum going with a win on court four against the Wildcats' Wallart to improve the Gator lead to 3-0.
Hidalgo sealed the match with a win over Kentucky's Bushamuku in three sets. The Guayaquil, Ecuador, native took the first and third set with scores of 6-2 while falling in the second set, 6-3.
Watson, Perez, and Lipman rounded out the singles play for UF in the final matches. Lipman capped the night with his first SEC win on the year.
Up next, Florida hosts the Tennesse Volunteers on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day. First serve is set for 1 p.m. ET.
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the match win over a Top-20 program tonight...
"You want to keep improving and getting better every match, regardless of the score or the situation and you want to treat everything as an opportunity. Tonight was a great opportunity to outplay a Top-20 program.Kentucky has a very talented team. Although the score was 7-0, both the singles and doubles matches were very tight. In singles play, 4-of-6 matches went into a third set. It says a lot about our guys and our toughness.
To play and win like we did tonight, with the ball blowing around the court, footwork, concentration, and focus were important. Making sure we were aware of not only the opponent, but also how to deal with the wind out here was key. I thought our guys did a great job of that tonight."
Final Results
#13 Florida 7, #20 Kentucky 0
Doubles-Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*
In doubles action, the No. 1-ranked tandem of seniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson claimed UF's first victory with a 6-2 win over Kentucky's Nils Ellefsen and Enzo Wallart. On court two, juniors Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman fell 6-2 to William Bushamuka and Trey Yates.
With the doubles point on the line, newcomer Alfredo Perez and sophomore Chase Perez-Blanco came through with a thrilling 6-3 performance on court three to seal doubles play and brought home a 1-0 lead for the Orange and Blue.
In singles play, the Florida Men swept all six solo matches. Orkin gave UF a 2-0 lead with a win over UK's Ellefsen on court three. The Marietta, Ga., native took the point with scores of 6-2 and 6-4 in straight sets. Perez-Blanco kept the momentum going with a win on court four against the Wildcats' Wallart to improve the Gator lead to 3-0.
Hidalgo sealed the match with a win over Kentucky's Bushamuku in three sets. The Guayaquil, Ecuador, native took the first and third set with scores of 6-2 while falling in the second set, 6-3.
Watson, Perez, and Lipman rounded out the singles play for UF in the final matches. Lipman capped the night with his first SEC win on the year.
Up next, Florida hosts the Tennesse Volunteers on Sunday afternoon for Senior Day. First serve is set for 1 p.m. ET.
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the match win over a Top-20 program tonight...
"You want to keep improving and getting better every match, regardless of the score or the situation and you want to treat everything as an opportunity. Tonight was a great opportunity to outplay a Top-20 program.Kentucky has a very talented team. Although the score was 7-0, both the singles and doubles matches were very tight. In singles play, 4-of-6 matches went into a third set. It says a lot about our guys and our toughness.
To play and win like we did tonight, with the ball blowing around the court, footwork, concentration, and focus were important. Making sure we were aware of not only the opponent, but also how to deal with the wind out here was key. I thought our guys did a great job of that tonight."
Final Results
#13 Florida 7, #20 Kentucky 0
Doubles-Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*
- #1 Hidalgo/Watson (UF) def. #71 Ellefsen/Wallart (UK), 6-2
- Bushamuka/Yates (UK) def. #62 Lipman/Orkin (UF), 6-2.
- Perez/Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Matsumura/Hussey (UK), 6-3.
- #13 Diego Hidalgo (UF) def. No. 31 William Bushamuka (UK): 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
- Alfredo Perez (UF) def. No. 35 Ryotaro Matsumura (UK): 6-3, 2-6, 7-5
- #38 Elliott Orkin (UF) def. Nils Ellefsen (UK): 6-2, 6-4.
- #107 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Enzo Wallart (UK): 6-2, 6-2.
- Gordon Watson (UF) def. Trey Yates (UK): 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
- Maxx Lipman (UF) def. Jake Stefanik (UK): 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5)
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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