Despite a slow start, Florida bounced back to defeat Florida State in a 4-2 victory on Wednesday at the Perry Indoor Tennis Facility in its first home match in almost a month.
Maxx Lipman defeated FSU’s Michael Rinaldi 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to clinch the match for his team.
“I’m really proud of both Mike Alford and Maxx Lipman for how they played down the stretch,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release.
“They played well. It was a good match and a match that will help us as we head into our [Southeastern Conference] season.”
Due to the rain, the match had to be played indoors.
Despite the forecast, the Gators adjusted.
“We were playing indoors, so we knew it was going to be tough,” Shelton said. “FSU is a really good team and they came in with a lot of fight, and I was proud of how our guys competed from start to finish.”
On the doubles court, Elliot Orkin and Gordon Watson defeated Marco Nunez and Grayson Goldin 8-5. Stephane Piro and Mike Alford defeated No. 23 Dominic Cotrone and Blake Davis 8-6 to clinch the doubles point for the Gators.
In singles, Spencer Newman and Diego Hidalgo were the only Florida players to lose their matches.
Watson defeated Blake Davis (FSU) 6-2, 7-6 (3), while Florent Diep defeated Marco Nunez 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.
To close out singles and clinch the match, Lipman fought in a highly contested match against Goldin and came out on top.
Shelton knew it would be a tough day for the Gators, maybe tougher than he expected.
With not much time to spare, Florida (5-4) will take a trip to College Station, Texas, where it will face Texas A&M on Friday at 6 p.m.
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Maxx Lipman swings at the ball during Florida’s 4-2 win against TCU on Jan. 26 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
