BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 19 Florida Gators took down the No. 34 LSU Tigers, 6-1, in Baton Rouge Saturday afternoon earning their first conference win of SEC play and improving their winning streak to 11 matches over LSU.
 
Florida (6-6, 1-1 SEC) and LSU (8-3, 0-2 SEC) were locked in a tight doubles point to start the match, as almost all three courts went to a tiebreak. Both ranked pairs on court one, No. 34 Will Grant/Axel Nefve and No. 24 Stefan Latinovic/Nick Watson, held serve all the way up until 6-5 when the Gators duo converted a massive break point and secured their fourth ranked victory of dual play.
 
Both the remaining matches on court two and three were battling in tiebreaks, the pair of Nate Bonetto/Tanapatt Nirundorn came back from down 3-1 and 5-3 by converting three break points for the decider on court two. In just their second match together, Bonetto/Nirundorn kept their composure and took down Chen Dong/Welsh Hotard, 7-6 (4), for the 1-0 Florida lead. Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif were at one apiece with Julien Penzlin/George Stoupe in the tiebreak before it was left unfinished.
 
The momentum carried over into singles as the Gators utilized three wins in straight sets to quickly clinch the victory. First was Olek Orlikowski on court six jumping out to a 6-1 first set and brought the hammer down with a 6-4 second frame over Benjamin Ambrosio. The freshman from Poland improved to 4-0 in the six position.
 
Next up was No. 73 Grant from court two where the junior improved to 2-0 in SEC play by blowing by Chen Dong. Despite being 2-0 to open the first set, the Boca Raton, Fla. native responded winning the frame 6-4 and cruised to a 6-1 second set to put the Gators within one of their first SEC win.
 
No. 79 Braswell answered the call with an efficient showing on court four over Julien Penzlin for his first career SEC victory. After jumping out to a 6-1 opening set, the freshman received some push back and was initially down 3-1 in the second. Yet, Braswell was determined to earn his second clincher of the season and won five of the next six games to secure Florida's first win of SEC play.
 
Florida wasn't finished there as No. 109 Nefve bounced back nicely at the top position after dropping the first set to Stefan Latinovic, 6-1. The graduate student rattled off a 6-3 second and completed the victory in the third set, 6-2, for his first SEC triumph.
 
No. 83 Bonetto finalized the match for the Gators in a gritty straight set win over Welsh Hotard. Down 4-2 to open the match on court three, the sophomore battled to earn the first frame 7-5 and fought the fellow lefty to a tiebreak in the second where he sealed it 7-6 (3). 
 
The Gators will be back on court Sunday, March 12 at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex to host Alabama for a 12 p.m. ET matchup.
 
DOUBLES RESULTS
1. No. 31 Will Grant/Axel Nefve (UF) def. No. 24 Stefan Latinovic/Nick Watson (LSU), 7-5
2. Nate Bonetto/Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. Chen Dong/Welsh Hotard (LSU), 7-6 (4)
3. Jonah Braswell/Lukas Greif (UF) vs Julien Penzlin/George Stoupe (LSU), 6-6 (1-1), unfinished
Order of Finish: 1, 2
 
SINGLES RESULTS
1. No. 109 Axel Nefve (UF) def. Stefan Latinovic (LSU), 1-6, 6-3, 6-2
2. No. 73 Will Grant (UF) def. Chen Dong (LSU), 6-4, 6-1
3. No. 83 Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Welsh Hotard (LSU), 7-5, 7-6 (3)
4. No. 79 Jonah Braswell (UF) def. Julien Penzlin (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
5. George Stoupe (LSU) def. Lukas Greif (UF), 1-6, 7-5, 10-6
6. Olek Orlikowski (UF) def. Benjamin Ambrosio (LSU), 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: 6, 2, 4, 1, 5, 3

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