CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Florida men's tennis team advanced to their second NCAA Quarterfinals in the last four years with a 4-3 victory over SEC foe Ole Miss on Friday night.
Â
With every eye in the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center fixed squarely on the team captain,
McClain Kessler reveled at the moment. He screamed and waved his arms for the crowd to get loud, pointing at those starring down on him with a confidence of an upperclassman that has been there before.
Â
After the junior lost the first set 4-6 he went back to his bench knowing he could come back and win the match. After taking the second set 6-3, Kessler fell behind 2-0 to open the third set. Trailing in what would become the deciding match of the night, he won four straight points to take a 4-2 lead. Ole Miss' Zvonimir Babic won the next game to pull within one. Kessler though would not be denied the victory, winning the next two games to close it out 6-3 and give the Gators the match.
Â
Â
Before the heroics of Kessler in singles, the Gators got out to a quick 3-1 leads on courts one and three in doubles. The fifth-ranked duo of
Alfredo Perez and
Johannes Ingildsen put on a show for the crowd with a dominant 6-2 victory to give the Gators the early advantage. On court two
Chase Perez-Blanco and
Oliver Crawford trailed 1-3 early but battled back to take a 4-3 lead. They were unable to hold the lead, falling 6-4. On court three
Duarte Vale and
McClain Kessler trailed 4-5 and later tied it at five-all. With the score tied Ole Miss scored the final two points, taking the match 7-5 and the doubles point.
Â
After junior
Alfredo Perez got the team fired up in between the doubles and singles matches the Gators got off to a fast start with leads on the front three courts and on court five on the back three. On court one Crawford cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 straight sets victory to even the match at one. Shortly after Ole Miss regained the lead with a straight-sets win on court four, Perez-Blanco tied the match at two with a 6-3, 6-4 victory on court five. Moments later Perez gave the lead back to Florida with a 6-4, 6-2 win on court three. The match would later be tied at three after
Johannes Ingildsen had to default his match in the third set due to cramps before Kessler closed the door with a three sets victory.
Â
The Crazy Day That Was
It took until after 5:30 p.m. for the Florida men's tennis team to know where and when they would be playing their NCAA Round of 16 match against Ole Miss. Heavy rain throughout the week in Winston-Salem, N.C. pushed 14 of 16 matches between both the women's and men's tournament indoors. The high seed on the bracket played their matches at Wake Forest, the host of the 2018 tournament, while the low seeds had to travel an hour and a half to Chapel Hill, N.C. to play on the campus of the University of North Carolina.
Â
Gator Notables
• This will be the Gators seventh quarterfinals in program history
• This is Florida's second quarterfinals appearance in the last four seasons
• Under head coach
Bryan Shelton Florida is now 10-5 in the tournament
• Against ranked opponents this season Florida is 14-9
• The Gators have won six of their last seven matches, including four shutouts
• Kessler and Perez have each won six straight matches
• That was Kessler's second match clinch of the season, his first was also against Ole Miss
• Perez-Blanco earned his 93rd career singles win and now has 185 career wins in both doubles and singles which ranks sixth all-time
• The Gators have appeared in 28 straight NCAA Tournament
• The 28 straight appearances are the third-longest active streak in the country, trailing only UCLA (42) and Georgia (35)
• In the ITA Rankings, the Gators find themselves ranked 13th. They have been ranked in the top 15 in every ranking this year
Â
Records
Florida Gators: 19-9
Ole Miss: 16-13
Â
Florida's Numbers in the NCAA Tournament
All-Time Record: 51-27
Best Finish: Semifinals (2000, 2005)
Appearances: 36 (28 straight)
Records by Round since 1999 Tournament Format:
           First Round: 22-4
          Second Round: 20-2
          Round of 16: 7-15
           Quarterfinals: 2-4
           Semifinals: 0-2
           Finals: n/a
*Includes regional play from 1991-1998 with regional finals included as a round of 16 match
Â
The NCAA has recognized a national champion in men's tennis every year since 1946 but has only done so in tournament format since 1977. The tournaments moved from a 16-team field to the current 64-team field in 1999. The first two rounds are held at on-campus sites, followed by the Round of 16 and beyond at a designated NCAA Championship site.
Â
Quoting Coach Shelton
On crazy schedule due to weather
"We just want our guys to relax most of the day and not stress over what was going to happen and let the coaches handle that. We got a light hit this morning after a good breakfast and then came back and put our feet up and just relaxed. We weren't sure if we were going to play in Chapel Hill or Winston-Salem."
Â
On falling in doubles but finding success in singles
"Ole Miss played really well in doubles and they turned it around and momentum was on their side. For us it was important for us to establish some momentum at the start of those singles matches and we did that in a lot of position. At No. 1, No.2 and No. 3 singles we jumped on them early in the sets and were able to establish some momentum and then it just became a fight."
Â
Quoting Kessler
On having everyone starring down at him at the end of the match
"It's just my favorite moment. I feel like nine out of 10 times when I'm in that moment I'm going to come through because for some reason I feel like I play better because everyone has their eyes on me. A lot of it comes down to who gets the luckier point. The guy I was playing today was playing insane tennis and I got a little more lucky which helped me through."
 On battle back backing in set three after falling behind 0-2
"My coach told me it was probably going to come down to me. I just kept believing in myself and when I heard it was going to come down to me I had a feeling that I felt good about. I knew that no matter what hte score was I could come back and win."
Quoting Perez
On crazy schedule due to weather
"We were just at the hotel hanging out the whole day. It's not the usual to play at 8 at night but we got to hit in the morning and then hang out. I brought my PS4 so we were watching Netflix and playing Fortnight so that kept us entertained for a bit."
Â
On his solid performance
"I was playing my game and being aggressive. I was moving really well and not letting the guy hit any winners. I was looking for my forehand a lot and dictating the court with that and making him move. I was serving really well also and didn't give myself chances to make mistakes, and just very solid today."
Â
Match Results
Doubles
(1) #5 Perez/Ingildsen (UF) def. #22 Sandkaulen/Hamilton (OM) – 6-2
(2) #62 Kraljevic/Babic (OM) def. #42 Perez-Blanco/Crawford (UF) – 6-4
 (3) Fallert/Fin Reynolds (OM) def. #36 Kessler/Vale (UF) – 7-5
Ole Miss won Doubles Point
Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
(1) #49
Oliver Crawford (UF) def. #45 Gustav Hansson (OM) – 6-1, 6-1
(2) #33 Tim Sandkaulen (OM) default #28
Johannes Ingildsen (UF)  – 2-6, 6-3, 3-5
(3) #13
Alfredo Perez (UF) def. #107 Filip Kraljevic (OM) – 6-4, 6-2
(4) Grey Hamilton (OM) def.
Andy Andrade (UF) – 6-1, 6-4
(5)
Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. Fabian Fallert (OM) – 6-3, 6-4
(6)
McClain Kessler (UF) def. Zvonimir Babic (OM) – 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 *
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 5, 3, 2, 6*
*Clincher
Â
Up Next
With the victory over Ole Miss, Florida advances to Sunday's quarterfinal match against Texas A&M. The match is scheduled to be played in Winston-Salem, N.C. on the campus of Wake Forest at 4 p.m. If location or times change due to weather stay tuned to FloridaGators.com and the men's tennis twitter account
@GatorsMTN.
Â
Follow the Gator
SOCIAL:Â
Twitter |Â
Facebook |Â
Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION:Â
#GoGators
Â
