GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators men's tennis team (11-6, 6-1 SEC) earned their third consecutive victory on Friday when they defeated the University of Mississippi 6-1 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex
Early in doubles, Ole Miss (9-8, 1-6 SEC) got the better of Florida with early leads on two of the three courts. The Gators never panicked and slowly chipped away on courts two and three, while on court one the No. 1 doubles team in the country rolled to a 6-1 victory and give the advantage to the Gators. After falling on court two all eyes turned to court three and
Chase Perez-Blanco and
Oliver Crawford. The pair, ranked eighth in the country, never wavered after the match was tied midway through the match and walked away with a 6-2 win and the double point for Florida.
The Gators first point in singles came from court three as Crawford, who had clinched the previous two matches for Florida, wasted no time in sitting down his opponent with a 6-1, 6-1 win. Perez-Blanco bumped to court five, earned the third point for Florida with a 6-2, 6-0 straight sets victory. After Ole Miss earned their only point of the match on court four, The Gators put away the Rebels on court six when
McClain Kessler, making his first singles appearance since March 11, dominated his way to a 6-3, 6-2 decision.
With the match already clinched the two teams decided to play out the remaining two matches.
Alfredo Perez dropped set one, but after winning set two 6-1 he forced a third set 10-point tiebreak. In the tiebreak, Perez fell behind early but was able to come away with the 10-8 victory. The Gators sixth point of the evening was won by
Johannes Ingildsen, who also dropped his first set, with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 decision. Ingildsen played a full third set because he had already started the third when the match was clinched, whereas Perez won set two after the match had been clinched.
Quoting Coach Shelton
On the team's slow start in some matches
"On any given night anything can happen, especially in our league. We told our guys that we are going to get their best effort, and sure enough, they created some doubt early in doubles and singles on several courts. It's always good to pull out of those types of slow starts and get a win, but I think we learned some valuable lessons tonight and we are going to work hard tomorrow."
On Perez-Blanco strong performance the past few weeks
"Chase is a wilily veteran. He is gaining confidence again. Seems like this is his time of the year when he starts to play his best tennis. He is really solid right now and not making many unforced errors. He's playing within himself and up to his limits and that is a great balance."
On Kessler getting into the singles lineup
"He's a gamer. He had some tough matches early in the season but we have faith in him and we know we have a lot of depth on this team. We've got capable guys that aren't playing certain nights and he was one of them. We were looking for a chance to get him back out there and this weekend was the perfect opportunity. Glad to see him go out there and have success and do it the right way, committing to a certain style of tennis that we wanted him to play. He executed, which gives him a lot of confidence."
Quoting Kessler
On singles success against Ole Miss
"I feel really comfortable on court six. I haven't lost many matches on that court and once I get out there I feel like I can play my best game, and play all-around tennis. Tonight I felt like I was serving and volleying a bit more and playing more aggressive and it felt great."
On teams third straight win
"It's huge. We have a good streak going and still have a good chance for the title. That's what a lot of people think about and that's exciting. We just need to keep rolling and playing really good tennis."
Gator Notes
• Florida improved to 37-23 all-time against Ole Miss
• This was Florida's fourth straight win in the series
• Under head coach
Bryan Shelton the Gators are 6-1 against the Rebels
• Crawford won his ninth consecutive singles match. He is now 7-0 in SEC Singles and 5-0 in SEC doubles
• Perez-Blanco earned his 87th career singles win and is seven away from ninth on the all-time list. With both, his doubles and singles win he moves up to ninth on the all-time list for career combined wins with 172. He is now four wins away from the eighth spot in program history
• Florida improved to 10-1 when winning the doubles point
• When they Gators win on court one they are 8-0 this season
• Ingildsen and Perez are on a seven-match win streak in doubles. They a 7-1 this season
• Perez-Blanco won his fifth consecutive match in singles
• Kessler improved to 21-8 all-time when playing at No. 6 singles
Match Results
Doubles
(1) #1 Perez/Ingildsen (UF) def. #66 Filip Kraljevi/Zvonimir Babic (OM) – 6-1
(2) Gray Hamilton/Tim Sandkaulen (OM) def. #32 Kessler/Vale (UF) – 6-2
(3) #8 Perez-Blanco/Crawford (UF) def. Cotter Wilson/Finn Reynolds (OM) – 6-4
Florida won Doubles Point
Order of Finish:1, 2, 3
Singles
(1) #8
Alfredo Perez (UF) def. #28 Tim Sandkaulen (OM) –5-7, 6-1, 10-8
(2) #11
Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. Grey Hamilton (OM) – 3-6, 6-2, 6-3
(3) #51
Oliver Crawford (UF) def. Zvonimir Babic (OM) – 6-1, 6-1
(4) Filip Kraljevi (OM) def. #87
Duarte Vale (UF) – 6-2, 6-3
(5)
Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Cotter Wilson (OM) – 6-2, 6-0
(6)
McClain Kessler (UF) def. Finn Reynolds (OM) – 6-3, 6-2*
Order of Finish:3, 5, 4, 6*, 1, 2
*Clincher
Up Next
Florida is back in the friendly confines of the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Sunday at 1 p.m. when they host the University of Arkansas. This will be the Gators last home match until April 13 when they host Alabama for Senior Day.
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