BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – No. 11 Florida (8-1, 4-0 SEC) defeated No. 10 Texas A&M (7-2, 3-1 SEC), 5-2, on Sunday afternoon to win its fifth-straight match of the season.
The Gators completed an important Southeastern Conference road trip with wins at LSU and at the 10th-ranked Aggies to move to 4-0 in SEC play.
UF earned the doubles point thanks to important victories from
Johannes Ingildsen and
Will Grant on No. 2 and
Ben Shelton and
Andy Andrade on No. 3.
With their win, Ingildsen and Grant improved to 4-0 as a partnership this season.
Florida got off to a hot start in singles play with
Sam Riffice and
Blaise Bicknell handling their opponents in straight sets on No. 3 and No. 4 respectively to give their side a 3-0 lead early on.
Bicknell improved his dual match record to 7-0 while Riffice goes to 8-1 in dual matches this season.
Shelton put together an impressive three-set comeback victory on No. 5 to clinch the dual match win for the Gators while Andrade outlasted his highly-rated opponent moments later in a match that featured two tiebreaks.
Shelton and Andrade each moved to 8-1 in dual matches this season with their performances.
Duarte Vale and
Lukas Greif fell in two hard-fought three-set contests.
UF will now turn its attention to a pivotal weekend at home against two top-ranked foes in No. 12 Georgia and No. 3 Tennessee.
Florida is scheduled to host the Bulldogs on Friday at 5 p.m. ET while the Volunteers will visit on Sunday at noon ET.
Singles Results: 4, 3, 1, 5, 2, 6
1. #13 Hady Habib (TAMU) def.
#12 Duarte Vale (UF) 6-3, 3-6, 6-1
2.
#85 Andy Andrade (UF) def. #4 Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (12-10)
3.
#8 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #33 Carlos Aguilar (TAMU) 6-4, 6-2
4.
#68 Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. #116 Noah Schachter (TAMU) 6-2, 6-4
5.
Ben Shelton (UF) def. Guido Marson (TAMU) 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2
6. Raphael Perot (TAMU) def.
#96 Lukas Greif (UF) 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
Doubles Results: 3, 1, 2
1. #48 Carlos Aguilar/Bjorn Thomson (TAMU) def.
#45 Sam Riffice/Duarte Vale (UF) 6-2
2.
Johannes Ingildsen/Will Grant (UF) def. Hady Habib/Noah Schachter (TAMU) 7-5
3.
Ben Shelton/Andy Andrade (UF) def. Pierce Rollins/Valentin Vacherot (TAMU) 6-0
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