Florida Falls to No. 11 Texas at National Indoors

Friday, February 17

Charlottesville, VA

12 PM

Florida Gators

#11 University of Texas

Johannes Ingildsen (pictured) and his doubles partner Alfredo Perez slowed the Longhorns down with a doubles win at the No. 1 position (Photo: Laura Schuessler / Intercollegiate Tennis Association)

Florida Falls to No. 11 Texas at National Indoors

Friday, February 17, 2017 | Men's Tennis

By: Kelsey Bibik

Box Score (PDF) | Draws

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 6 Florida Gators lost a tight 4-2 match to the No. 11 Texas Longhorns at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship on Friday.

The tenth seeded Longhorns got off to a quick start in the doubles competition as Christian Sigsgaard and Julian Zlobinsky defeated Florida's Elliott Orkin and Jordan Belga 6-1. Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen were able to slow Texas down by earning a 6-2 win over Leo Telles and George Goldhoff in the No. 1 position, but Texas' Harrison Scott and Yuya Ito clinched the doubles point with a 6-2 win over Maxx Lipman and Joshua Wardell.

Texas also gained an early lead in singles play as Elliott Orkin and McClain Kessler fell in the No. 3 and No. 5 places, respectively, but Alfredo Perez topped 5^th ranked Sigsgaard for the Gators' first point of the match, and Perez' second ranked singles win of the dual season. Chase Perez-Blanco followed Perez with a 7-6, 6-3 win over Goldhoff to earn the Gators' second point.

With a score of 3-2 in the Longhorns' favor, the deciding points came down to Ingildsen and Jordan Belga in the fourth and sixth positions, respectively. Both matches went into three sets, but it was Rodrigo Banzer who came back after trailing Jordan Belga 5-2 in the third set to win it for Texas. This was only Belga's second appearance in the lineup this season.

Quoting Head Coach Bryan Shelton
"Texas played a very good match today, so congrats to them. We played well in spots today, but ultimately just did not get the job done. We have to perform better as a team on the critical points in these matches. We had a lot of opportunities today that we created, but we just did not capitalize on enough of them. Today's loss is part of the process and we have to learn these lessons well and take advantage of the opportunity we have against Mississippi State tomorrow. It's time to bounce back."

No. 11 Texas 4, No. 6 Florida 2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1 No. 7 Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. Leonardo Telles/George Goldhoff (UT), 6-2
2 No. 27 Harrison Scott/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Maxx Lipman/Josh Wardell (UF), 6-2
3 Christian Sigsgaard/Julian Zlobinsky (UT) def. Elliott Orkin/Jordan Belga (UF), 6-1

Singles – Order of Finish: 3, 5, 1, 2, 6
1 No. 9 Alfredo Perez (UF) def. No. 5 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4, 6-2
2 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. George Goldhoff (UT), 7-6, 6-3
3 No. 58 Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 60 Elliott Orkin (UF), 6-2, 6-1
4 No. 45 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. No. 109 Johannes Ingildsen (UF), 6-7, 6-3, 4-5, susp.
5 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. No. 76 McClain Kessler (UF), 6-3, 6-3
6 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Jordan Belga (UF), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4)

Up Next for the Gators
The Gators will take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Saturday at noon (ET) in the second round of the consolation match. The Bulldogs fell to the Demon Deacons 4-0 on Friday.

Notes

Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen hold the best doubles record on the team, posting an 11-2 record together after their win against Telles/Goldhoff.
Although this was only his second dual match of the 2017 season, Jordan Belga now holds a 13-6 singles record for the season (40-22 overall).
Elliott Orkin holds a 91-40 career singles record, which currently sits ninth on the Gators' all-time career singles wins list.