Florida Men’s Tennis Looks to Bounce Back Against FGCU
After a 4-3 loss against an unranked Florida State and a 4-2 loss against the currently undefeated No. 7 UCF Knights, Florida men’s tennis is looking for a much needed win against FGCU on Saturday.
While the Gators started strong with a 6-4 win on court three with Kevin Edengren and Andres Timini leading the charge, the duo of Pablo Perez Ramos and Adhithya Ganesan lost their first match of the season, falling 6-4 to the Knights. Unfortunately, the Gators couldn’t win the crucial third and final match, with the new duo of Henry Jefferson and Lorenzo Claverie falling to UCF in a heartbreaking 7-6 (9-7) loss.
Despite its duo woes, Florida responded quickly when singles started. Four of the six courts won the first set, with Claverie evening the score with a win on court three.
Even after Claverie’s victory, the Gators’ woes continued, with Ganesan falling to UCF’s Yassine Dimi on court one. A heroic effort by Ramos secured the Gators’ win on court four, but wins by UCF on courts two and five buried Florida’s hopes of a potential comeback.
Thus, with two consecutive losses against fellow Sunshine State teams and their No. 18 spot on the ITA National Rankings in jeopardy, the Gators need a win against FGCU. That’s especially notable since their other Saturday match against UNF has been postponed to a later date.
But Florida has a good shot against FGCU. Even though the Eagles won 4-1 against Oral Roberts in their last match, they’ll be rusty. Their match against Oral Roberts will have been almost three weeks ago by the time they play Saturday.
The Gators also have home court advantage — if such exists in college tennis — and with their last match having been only a week ago, they’re getting into the spring rhythm.
To this point in the spring season, FGCU is the easiest opponent Florida has faced. While Florida State currently is 6-3 and UCF is 7-0, FGCU is 1-5. And while both teams lost against UCF, Florida’s 4-2 loss looks much better than FGCU’s sweep.
Being in a much tougher conference should also give the Gators a boost over the Eagles. Currently, seven SEC teams, including Florida, are ranked by the ITA. Their previous experience in SEC play should help the Gators easily defeat an Atlantic Sun Conference foe. While conference play hasn’t started yet this season, them getting to the SEC Tournament last season and their win over Kentucky during the ITA Kickoff Weekend shows they’re able to stand toe-to-toe against conference opponents.
But even with Florida’s advantages, college tennis is unpredictable. If Florida wants to remain ranked, it needs to play like its reputation depends on it.
Because it does.
Category: Gator Sports, Gators Tennis
