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.
