BOX SCORE

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The NCAA Tournament is always an exciting time, especially when a team gets an opportunity to play its rival and wins.
 
But a sweep is even better.
 
And that's just what the Gators did in Saturday's second round action.  No.3-seeded Florida ousted the Seminoles with a 4-0 win at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
 
The Gators relied on momentum from a strong doubles point to take five of the six first sets in singles and closed out three straight-set wins to take down the Seminoles.  This marked the second time this season Florida defeated FSU.
 
With the win, Florida advances to the NCAA Round of 16 for the fourth year in a row and the program's 22^nd showing all-time in the sweet 16.   As a top-8 seed, the Gators will be a host in next weekend's new Super Regional format, and will get a rematch with 14^th-seeded Tennessee who defeated the Gators 4-3 in the SEC Tournament semifinals two weeks ago. The Volunteers advanced with a 4-2 win over NC State. 
 
Match time between the Gators and the Volunteers is set for 12 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 11 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
 
Against the Seminoles Saturday afternoon, Florida got an early advantage in doubles when Duarte Vale and Andy Andrade bested Chase Wood and Bryn Nahrung 6-1 on court 3.  FSU then held off a late surge from McClain Kessler and Johannes Ingildsen on court 1 and took the match 6-3.  This left the doubles point up to court 2, which was holding serve and eventually ended up in tiebreak.  Sam Riffice and Alfredo Perez took a 5-2 lead in the break and clinched the doubles point for the Gators.
 
That momentum carried over into singles, as Florida took five of the first sets, capped off by Perez' 7-4 decision in his first-set tiebreaker.
 
The Gators took those first sets and turned them into two quick points.  Andrade rattled off a 6-0, 6-2 win on court 5 and that was followed with a 6-0, 6-4 win from Kessler on court 6.  Kessler is now 27-1 at home in career singles matches. 
 
Once again, the clinching point could have come on two different courts.  Sophomore Oliver Crawford and Perez were serving for the match, but Perez finished first and propelled the Gators to the Round of 16.  
 
With his two wins, Perez also wrote his name in the history books for Florida Tennis as he is now tied for 10^th on the All-Time Total Wins list with 171 career wins (93 in singles, 78 in doubles).  He joined Olivier Levant at the No. 10 spot on the chart.
 
Up next, 4^th-ranked Florida will host No. 14 Tennessee in the NCAA Super Regional (Round of 16) at 12 p.m. ET next Saturday, May 11.  Full details, including ticket information on the Gainesville Super Regional will be announced early next week.  This marks the third meeting between the Gators and the Volunteers.  The two teams split the previous contests. 
 
Quotes from the Gators: 
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
Opening Statement…
"Just really proud of our team and our staff and our coaches for the hard work that they put in to be able to host this event.  I think the guys did a good job throughout the season to put us in a position to be able to be one of the top seeds and to be able to play in front of our crowd. Our guys played extremely hard.  I thought the teams that came in here played really well and Florida State today was a worthy opponent.  I was happy that we were able to play well enough to get the doubles point and then to ultimately win the match."
 
On earning shutdown wins in the first and second rounds…
"I think a lot of it is the preparation.  I think our guys, after the last match against Tennessee, put in a lot of work, as they have all season.  When you are prepared and you have opportunity then you can go out there and execute and I think our guys did a good job of that.  I don't think we played our very best tennis yesterday, but we got better as the match went along and I felt like we carried that with us today and were able to get some momentum.  I thought FGCU played extremely good doubles yesterday and pushed us and FSU did as well today and I think that really prepared us to really be able to withstand the pressure there at the end of that doubles point for Alfredo [Perez] and Sam [Riffice] to come up with their best tennis when it mattered most."
 
Senior Alfredo Perez
On winning both matches and earning that top-10 spot in UF books…
"It wasn't easy.  Both doubles and singles were tight matches.  It's good to be top 10, but I hear Johannes [Ingildsen] is right behind me.  I'll take it as long as I can."
 
On clinching the match…
"I was going to be a little upset if I was up 5-1 again and not be able to finish like yesterday.  But I was able to stay concentrated and get the job done for the team.  It's always good to beat FSU."
 
Final Results
 
#4 Florida 4, #28 Florida State 0
 
Doubles-Order of Finish: 3,1,2
1. Sebastian Arcila/Alex Knaff (FSU) def. Johannes Ingildsen/McClain Kessler (UF)- 6-3
2. Alfredo Perez/Sam Riffice (UF) def. Juan Martin Jalif/Lucas Poullain (FSU)- 7-6 (7-5)
3. Duarte Vale/Andres Andrade (UF) def. Chase Wood/Bryn Nahrung (FSU)- 6-1
 
Singles-Order of Finish: 5,6,4
1. #9 Oliver Crawford (UF) vs. #30 Lucas Poullain (FSU)- 6-1, 6-5, unfinished
2. #54 Sam Riffice (UF) vs. Alex Knaff (FSU)- 6-1, 0-6, 4-5, unfinished
3. #113 Johannes Ingildsen (UF) vs. Juan Martin Jalif (FSU)- 6-7 (3-7), 5-4, unfinished
4. Alfredo Perez (UF) def. Richard Thongoana (FSU)- 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
5. #59 Andres Andrade (UF) def. Rana-Roop Bhullar (FSU)- 6-0, 6-2
6. McClain Kessler (UF) def. Sebastian Arcila (FSU)- 6-0, 6-4
 
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