Florida Gators

ATHENS, Ga. ­– The Gators enjoyed yet another competitive day at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships on Saturday, highlighted by junior Duarte Vale's big upset win in the Black singles draw semifinals to reach his second consecutive singles finals appearance this fall. The Gators collected seven wins on the day, including semifinals appearances from Josh Goodger and Andy Andrade in the Red singles draw, as Josh Goodger and Lukas Greif clawed back in the Black doubles draw to reach the consolation finals set for Sunday.
 
"We definitely got better today and had some great performances," said head coach Bryan Shelton. "I'm looking forward to finishing out the weekend on a positive note tomorrow."
 
Doubles play kicked off the second day of competition at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex, as No. 4 Johannes Ingildsen and Brian Berdusco, the No. 2 seed, faced Texas' Sigsgaard and Woldeab in the Red doubles draw semifinals.
 
Sigsgaard and Woldeab went on to drop the Gators duo, 6-2, to advance to the finals, knocking Ingildsen and Berdusco into Sunday morning's third-place consolation matchup. Ingildsen and Berdusco will meet Georgia's Henning and Croyder tomorrow morning in the third-place match.
 
Meanwhile, in the Black doubles draw, Lukas Greif and Josh Goodger matched up with Wake Forest's Cungu and Solomon in the consolation semifinals, earning a 6-4 decision to move in to tomorrow's consolation finals. Greif and Goodger are slated to take on Georgia Tech's McDaniel and Bauer tomorrow morning.
 
In the consolation of the Red doubles draw, No. 21 Andy Andrade and Duarte Vale would walk over Wake Forest's Botzer and Nava before dropping a tight match to Illinois' Montsi and Gomes, 7-6 (5).
 
Five Gators then went on to pick up at least one singles victory on the day, as Duarte Vale was the bright spot for Florida with an unrelenting run to the Black singles draw finals.
 
No. 52 Vale kicked off singles play with a quarterfinals victory over Georgia's Trent Bryde, 7-6 (5), 6-4, while No. 15 Bar Botzer of Wake Forest, the No. 1 seed in the Black singles draw, downed freshman Blaise Bicknell in quarterfinals action as well, 6-2, 6-4. Meeting Botzer in the semis, Vale went on to pick up a huge upset win over the Demon Deacon in straight-sets, 6-2, 6-4, to reach his second straight finals appearance since the Seahawk Fall Invite two weeks ago.
 
Vale will face UCF's No. 82 Juan Pablo Grassi in the championship of the Black singles draw tomorrow.
 
No. 31 Andy Andrade and No. 68 Josh Goodger added quarterfinal wins for the Gators in the Red singles draw, though, both would ultimately go down in the semis to see each other in Sunday's third-place match.
 
Andrade, the No. 2 seed, would down Texas' Evin McDonald in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5, before falling at the hands of No. 81 Phillip Henning of Georgia in the semis, 6-3, 6-2.
 
Goodger, the No. 4 seed, dropped Georgia Tech's Andres Martin in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-3, before meeting Texas' No. 2 ranked Christian Sigsgaard, and top seed, in the semis. Goodger put up a good fight with the Longhorn, though, Sigsgaard would manage to take the edge, 7-5, 7-6 (8), to grant his entrance into tomorrow's finals against Georgia's Henning.
 
Despite falling in the quarterfinals, Bicknell managed to finish the day on a positive note, grinding out a consolation win over Georgia's Trent Bryde in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. On the other hand, No. 64 Johannes Ingildsen went down in a tough match against Illinois' Motsi in the consolation semis of the Black singles draw, 7-6 (2), 4-6, 2-6, before dropping his last consolation matchup to Tulane's No. 36 Ewan Moore to close out Saturday's competition.
 
UP NEXT:

• Doubles and consolation doubles finals will start tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m., while singles and consolation singles finals will follow after into the afternoon.