No. 21 Florida Men’s Tennis Rolls Past No. 19 Vanderbilt at Home

No. 21 Florida men’s tennis rose to the occasion against No. 19 Vanderbilt on Friday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex, taking the win at 4-1. The victory improves their record to 5-6 in SEC play and 13-10 overall.

Doubles kicked off on Courts 1 and 2 with intense back-and-forth battles, both reaching 6-6 tiebreaks. Kevin Edengren and Andreas Timini secured a quick 6-2 win on Court 3 over Vanderbilt’s Jack Satterfield and Hugo Coquelin.

The Gators pair, nicknamed “The Invincibles,” improved to an 11-4 record. Coach Adam Steinberg referenced their chemistry following the match, saying he shows the team film of them playing as a reference.

“They don’t play tennis perfectly, but their energy is contagious,” Steinberg said. “Those things happen a lot in college tennis.”

Court 1 (Henry Jefferson and Tanapat Nirundorn vs. Nathan Cox and Hoyoung Roh) and Court 2 (Pablo Perez-Ramos and Adhithya Ganesan vs. Pablo Martinez Gomez and Callum Markowitz) featured tighter contests, with both matches tied at 6-6.

Jefferson and Nirundorn reached a tiebreak first but fell 6-7 (6-1). With each team claiming one match, the doubles point came down to Court 2, where Perez-Ramos and Ganesan battled Martinez Gomez and Markowitz. In front of a packed, energetic crowd, the Florida pair secured the match 7-6 (7-4), clinching the doubles point.

The Gators carried momentum into singles, winning four of the first six sets.

Jefferson earned the second overall point for Florida on Court 4 with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Cox. Edengren followed on the adjacent court, defeating Hwang Donghyun 6-2, 6-4.

Edengren, now 8-0 in singles play on Court 6, said gaining confidence has been key this season.

“I started the year struggling a bit … winning a few matches here and there just really improves my confidence,” Edengren said. “I’m going into every match thinking, how can I improve?”

With the overall score at 3-0, Florida needed one more singles win to clinch the victory.

On Court 2, Lorenzo Claverie and Hoyoung Roh pushed to a third set. On Court 1, Ganesan trailed 1-4 to Martinez Gomez in the second set after dropping a first-set tiebreak. On Court 3, Jin led 6-4 after the opening set, while on Court 5, Perez-Ramos faced Satterfield after taking the first set 6-3.

The second set on Court 5 proved much tighter, forcing a tiebreak. Despite the close score, Perez-Ramos took control in the tiebreak, winning 6-1 to secure the match 6-3, 7-6 and clinch the fourth and final point for Florida.

Steinberg said the win was needed after a tough loss to Oklahoma the week prior.

“That was a match we had to have and the guys knew it,” he said. “They stepped up to the challenge … today was the best I’ve seen them do it.”

Florida returns to action Saturday for a home doubleheader against No. 7 LSU at noon and Presbyterian College at 5 p.m.

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