GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 13 Florida (0-1) fell to No. 8 Texas (1-0), 5-2, in the spring season opener on Sunday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Despite losing the doubles point, the Gators played a tight match with the Longhorns all the way through. With the team down 3-0,
Will Grant put Florida on the board with a straight-set victory over No. 30 Micah Braswell at No. 2.
Grant converted on two break points to take the first set 6-3 and came all the way back from 5-2 in the second set tiebreak winning five straight points to seal the match, 7-6 (5). The win over No. 30 Braswell is Grant's second ranked-victory after beating No. 9 Tyler Stice of Auburn at the Commodore Invitational in the fall.
Jonah Braswell earned his first collegiate dual match and team-leading 16
th win by retirement at No. 3, but opened the match on fire winning five straight games to go up 5-1 and won the first set 6-2. The Sarasota, Fla. native was down 5-2 in the second frame, but rallied to force a tiebreak before coming up short 7-4. Pierre-Yves Bailey retired down 3-1 to Braswell.
Axel Nefve at No. 1 and
Tanapatt Nirundorn at No. 6 both grabbed the first set against No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri and Chih Chi Huang, respectively, but couldn't come away with the victory in their three-set defeats.
With freshmen playing at No. 3, No. 5 and No. 6, the match marked the second time three freshmen have opened the season in the singles lineup under
Bryan Shelton. During the 2018 season opener,
Andy Andrade, Oliver Crawford and
Duarte Vale all played as freshmen in the 6-1 win over UCF.
Florida will now look to bounce back with a trip to UCF on Saturday.
QUOTES FROM THE COURT
Head Coach Bryan Shelton
On the season opener against No. 8 Texas…
"I thought Texas played really well today. First match out for both teams, it's always a great match. I felt like both teams competed really hard. We weren't executing everywhere, but competed hard. Always good to see our freshmen out there getting that type of experience so early in their career. I was also so pleased to see such a good fanbase come out and watch on a cold day in January. It was nice to have the stands almost full. I thought they gave us some good energy, as well. It certainly was a fun match to be a part of. We've had some battles with Texas through the years. Got them once last year and they got us, too. They've got a very good team this year and for us to battle them as hard as we did, with such a young squad, I thought that was a sign of good things to come for us."
On Will Grant's win over No. 30 Micah Braswell…
"Really proud of Will. He's someone who has had to kind of wait awhile to have his turn out there. I couldn't be prouder of him and happy for him to get the win today because it wasn't easy. Micah is a tough out. One of the better college tennis players in the country and Will really had to stay locked in. Really had to trust his game in critical times and he did that. Just happy to see him come out with a victory."
On the improvements that need to be made before the match on the road against UCF…
"I think there were times in the doubles where we just didn't put enough first serves in play. Then our second serves, we had too many double faults in situations where we didn't hit our spots and didn't play aggressively enough. I think that's an area we will focus in on this week because the doubles point got away from us pretty quickly on line one and line three. Even though we were up a break on line two, you need to win two matches to win a doubles point. That's something we will focus in on. The serve and the return of serve. Continuing to improve in those areas and continue to get match tough. Play sets and things like that in practice and put our guys in situations so they're prepared against UCF Saturday."
DOUBLES RESULTS
1. No. 7 Cleeve Harper/Eliot Spizzirri (Texas) def.
Will Grant/
Axel Nefve (UF), 1-6
2. No. 10
Tanapatt Nirundorn/
Togan Tokac (UF) vs. Chih Chi Huang/Eshan Talluri (Texas), 5-4, unfinished
3. Pierre-Yves Bailly/Siem Woldeab (Texas) def. No. 43
Jonah Braswell/
Lukas Greif (UF), 1-6
Order of Finish: 1, 3
SINGLES RESULTS
1. No. 3 Eliot Spizzirri (Texas) def.
Axel Nefve (UF), 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2
2.
Will Grant (UF) def. No. 30 Micah Braswell (Texas), 6-3, 7-6 (5)
3. No. 93
Jonah Braswell (UF) def. Pierre-Yves Bailly (Texas), 6-2, 6-7 (4), 3-1, retirement
4. No. 13 Siem Woldeab (Texas) def.
Lukas Greif (UF), 6-1, 6-2
5. Cleeve Harper (Texas) def.
Togan Tokac (UF), 6-4, 6-2
6. Chih Chi Huang (Texas) def.
Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF), 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: 4, 5, 2, 6, 1, 3
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