Men’s tennis falls to Mississippi State in Starkville

Friday, March 9

Starkville, MS

4 PM

Florida Gators

Mississippi State

Men’s tennis falls to Mississippi State in Starkville

Friday, March 9, 2018 | Men's Tennis

By: Kelly Shipp

STARKVILLE, Miss. – The University of Florida men's tennis team opened their two-match road trip on the losing end Friday night. The Gators (7-5, 2-1 SEC) dropped their match against No. 27 Mississippi State (8-1, 2-0 SEC) 5-2.

In doubles, the Gators got a quick 6-2 decision from Chase Perez-Blanco and Oliver Crawford at the No. 3 spot, their third consecutive win, to gain the early advantage over the Bulldogs. After dropping No. 2 doubles 6-4, it came down to No. 1 Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen.

The duo started well but fell behind MSU's Nuno Borges and Strahinja Rakic midway through the match. The Gator duo trailed twice when MSU could have closed the door on the match but Perez and Ingildsen proved why they are the top-ranked team in the country. After tying the match twice, and forcing a 10-point tiebreak, the pair was able to impose their will and win the match 7-6, and the doubles point.

Six times this season the Gators have come out on top when they have won the doubles point, but on Friday that was not the case. Florida was behind the eight ball from start in singles after losing the first set in five of six matches. Perez and Ingildsen struggled at the top of the lineup after a gutsy doubles win. Perez fell in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 while Ingildsen also fell in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

The Bulldogs clinched the match after picking up wins at No. 4 and 6 singles. Duarte Vale and Perez-Blanco both battles back to win the second set and force a third set in their respective matches but neither was able to carry the momentum gained n set two, over to the third set.

With the match already decided, Crawford and Andy Andrade finished their matches. Crawford won his match 6-4, 6-7, 1-0 while Andrade fell 7-5, 5-7, 7-6.

Quoting Coach Shelton
"I have to give Mississippi State a lot of credit for bouncing back after we won an exciting doubles point. Our guys did not pay confidently in singles and we have to be mentally tougher against a very good team on the road."

"Another opportunity on Sunday at Auburn. We will bounce back, visualize the things we want to correct and have a great practice tomorrow."

Gator Notables
• Florida drops to 36-18 in the all-time series
• This is Florida's first loss to MSU in the last three meetings
• Gators are now 6-1 when winning the doubles point
• Perez-Blanco and Crawford have won three straight matches at the No. 3 spot
• Perez-Blanco moved into a tie for eighth on the all-time doubles wins list with 83. He is tied with Bob Van Overbeek. With the win, he also earns 165 combined career wins and is just five wins away from moving into a tie for 10th on the all-time list

Match Results
Doubles
(1) #1 Perez/Ingildsen (UF) def. Nuno Borges/Strahinja Rakic (MSU) – 7-6
(2) Giovanni Oradini/Niclas Braun (MSU) def. #12 Kessler/Vale (UF) – 6-4
(3) #10 Perez-Blanco/Crawford (UF) def. #59 Trevor Foshey/Florian Broska (MSU) – 6-2
Florida won Doubles Point
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles
(1) #4 Nuno Borges (MSU) def. #7 Alfredo Perez (UF) – 7-5, 6-2
(2) #23 Giovanni Oradini (MSU) def. #6 Johannes Ingildsen (UF) – 6-3, 6-4
(3) #93 Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #82 Strahinja Rakic (MSU) – 6-4, 6-7, 1-0
(4) Niclas Braun (MSU) def. #68 Duarte Vale (UF) – 6-4, 2-6, 6-1*
(5) Florian Broska (MSU) def. #101 Andy Andrade (UF) – 7-5, 5-7, 7-6
(6) Trevor Foshey (MSU) def. Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) – 6-2, 1-6, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 6, 4*, 3, 5
*Clincher

Up Next
The Gators will close out their weekend road trip on Sunday when they travel to Auburn, Ala. to take on the Tigers. The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. eastern time.

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