Florida Men’s Tennis Bounces Back in Win vs. FGCU

No. 23 Florida Men’s Tennis left little doubt in their match against Florida Gulf Coast at home this Saturday as they jumped back on the winning track in a 4-0 sweep.

Florida jumped ahead early by securing the doubles point, setting the tone for the rest of the match. On Court 1, Henry Jefferson and Lorenzo Claverie delivered a shutout against FGCU’s Jonathon Baron and Gustav Hasslegren, cruising to a 6-0 score. Pablo Perez Ramos and Tanapatt Nirundorn followed shortly after on Court 2 against Tanner Povey and Pablo Pasternostro, earning a 6-2 victory to clinch the doubles point for the Gators.

Gators coach Adam Steinberg said that this is an important area of competition for the team.

“It’s great to obviously get back on the winning track,” Steinberg said. “The biggest thing was getting back and winning the doubles point. Our doubles is a strength of our team, but we haven’t been performing that well. Today, they did really well.”

Florida carried that momentum into singles play, taking three straight matches to secure the overall win.

Kevin Edengren opened singles competition with another dominant performance, finishing with a 6-1, 6-0 victory against Gustav Hasslegren. Perez-Ramos followed suit with a 6-3, 7-5 win against Pablo Paternostro that pushed Florida’s overall lead to 3-0.

With just one more point needed to take the overall win, Jefferson delivered a clutch performance on Court 1, with a 6-2, 6-2 success against Tanner Povey.

“You can kind of see throughout a college dual match that you may be the fourth point for your team, and that adds a little bit more pressure,” Jefferson said. “But at the same time, if you put that on your shoulders in a good way, you can always come through for your team.”

Steinberg praised Jefferson’s execution on court.

“He’s come so far,” he said. “Now he’s playing number one, and he just looks the part…to clinch there is great for his confidence.”

While the score reflects a comfortable win, several matches showed early resistance, particularly for Lorenzo Claverie and Andreas Timini. On Court 2, Claverie reached a tight opening set that reached 6-6 against FGCU’s Jonathon Baron before sealing the first set win at 7-6.

Timini faced an even steeper challenge on Court 5. After falling behind 5-1 to FGCU’s Stavros Hadjivarnava, he came back with five straight game wins to force a tiebrack and take back control of the court in a first set 7-6 win.

“[Timini] wasn’t connecting with the team as well as he could,” Steinberg said. “But he showed a lot of character, the way he came back and got through that.”

With the win, Florida has gained momentum heading into their next round of competition. The Gators are set to hit the court again at the ITA National Indoor Championships, kicking off Friday, Feb. 13.

Category: Gator Sports, Gators Tennis, NCAA, Tennis