GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gators Men's Tennis finished their home schedule with a 4-0 sweep of the No. 21 South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday afternoon. The win pushes the Gators to 12-10 overall on the season, including a 6-6 mark in conference play.
 
How it Happened
The Gators battled to a hard-fought sweep of the doubles point, takingcourts one and two to open the day's action. No. 31 Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim defeated South Carolina's No. 13 Samuel/Hoole pairing in a 7-6 (2) set, tying their highest-ranked win of the season as a duo. No. 70 Adhithya Ganesan/Tanapatt Nirundorn made quick work of the Gamecocks' Andrade da Silva/Story tandem with a 6-3 set.
 
The Gators kept momentum, winning five of six first sets to open singles play. Kim was the first to claim his singles court and the second point for Florida. Two days removed from a heartbreaking three-set loss that sealed the 4-3 win for Arkansas over the Gators, Kim bounced back with a 6-1, 6-1 rout that lasted all of approximately 50 minutes.
 
Kevin Edengren continued his dominant stretch, collecting his fifth straight singles win on court six, and his fourth consecutive win in straight sets. The reigning SEC Freshman of the Week  delivered a 6-1, 7-5 mark to South Carolina's Carter Morgan, Giving Florida a commanding 3-0 lead in the dual.
 
Nate Bonetto was the last Gator to finish his first set, as his battle with Jelani Sarr went to a tiebreaker in set one, which Bonetto finished by rattling off five straight points to come back and win 7-4. Bonetto's 6-4 effort in set two sealed the 4-0 win for the Orange and Blue.
 
Next up
The Gators now head to Baton Rouge for the 2024 Southeastern Conference Tournament. The Gators have won six SEC Tournament championships since the event began in 1990. The Gators last took the crown in 2022, capping the team's perfect record in conference play that season.
 
From Head Coach Adam Steinberg…
On Kim and Edengren's performances of late…
"You know, Aidan, he played terrific. We've seen it over the last few weeks. He's had a good run here, and when he's confident he could play, and to me he can be, one of the best players and college Tennis. He believes that too. And Kevin has been special lately. He's been in and out of the lineup the first half and now he's getting some consistency and he's he's taking advantage of it and playing great tennis. Proud of him."
 
On the postseason…
"I told the guys that's where the dreams and memories are made, in the postseason. A lot of these guys it's going to be their first time. I know we're really excited to get to Baton Rouge. To me, the SEC is the best conference in the country, with all of the teams there the energy is going to be awesome. So we're really looking forward to it… I think we really don't have any freshmen anymore after this regular season. They've grown up, they know that there's going to be no surprises, but there's going to be twelve really, really great teams there so, we're excited."
 
Results
Singles competition
1. Jeremy Jin (UF) vs. Toby Samuel (SC) 6-4, 6-5, unfinished
2. Aidan Kim (UF) def. James Story (SC) 6-1, 6-1
3. Adhithya Ganesan (UF) vs. Sean Daryabeigi (SC) 6-2, 3-6, 0-3, unfinished
4. Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Jelani Sarr (SC) 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
5. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) vs. Lucas da Silva (SC) 4-6, 6-5, unfinished
6. Kevin Edengren (UF) def. Carter Morgan (SC) 6-1, 7-5
 
Doubles competition
1. Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim (UF) def. Toby Samuel/Casey Hoole (SC) 7-6 (7-2)
2. Adhithya Ganesan/Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. James Story/Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-3
3. Jeremy Jin/Kevin Edengren (UF) vs. Sean Daryabeigi/Jelani Sarr (SC) 5-4, unfinished
 
Match Notes:
South Carolina 13-13; National ranking #21
Florida 12-10; National ranking #25
Order of Finish: Singles (2,6,4) Doubles (2,1)
 
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