Alabama
Florida
Men's Tennis Edged by No. 18 Gators, 4-2
3/15/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The 66th-ranked men's tennis team's comeback came up short, falling 4-2 to the 18th-ranked Florida Gators on Sunday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. With the loss, the Crimson Tide moves to 12-10 overall and 2-3 against Southeastern Conference opponents, while the win bring the Gators to 8-5 on the season and 3-2 in the league.
"We had a good trip and showed ourselves that we can play and beat good teams," said Alabama head coach George Husack. "Today we fell a little short, but we were right there. We will get back to work and keep moving the chains downfield."
Florida took a 1-0 edge following an extremely competitive doubles point that went down to the wire. The Gators' Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin claimed the first 6-4 victory for Florida, coming on court one against 32nd-ranked Korey Lovett and Becker O'Shaughnessey. As that match finished, both court two and three were locked at 4-4, leaving the doubles point up for grabs. The Gators would go on to win the next game to take a 5-4 lead at both spots and would eventually get a 6-4 win from Oliver Landert and Joshua Wardell on court three over the Tide's Danny Kerznerman and Nikko Madregallejo.
Florida won the first two singles matches to take a 3-0 lead overall, however Alabama claimed first sets on the other four courts. Sam Edwards got Alabama on the board with the first SEC win of his career, beating Landert, 6-2, 6-3, on court six. O'Shaughnessey followed that up with a 6-3, 7-5 victory on court two, his seventh win in a row, to bring the Tide within one of the Gators. Florida, however, would go on to win the next point, clinching the match with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory for Chase Perez-Blanco over Stuart Kenyon on court five. Lovett's match was halted on court one with the freshman leading 5-3 in the third set.
Alabama returns home next weekend for a trio of matches, hosting LSU on Friday, March 20, at 5 p.m. CT before welcoming Texas A&M and Mercer for a doubleheader on Sunday, March 22, at 1 p.m. CT and 5 p.m. CT, respectively.
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Players Mentioned
