Florida finished off Auburn with a clean 4-0 sweep Friday evening at the Ring Tennis Complex to push its Southeastern Conference record to 3-2.
Coach Bryan Shelton knew that his team would play well after it picked up the doubles point.
“I was really pleased that our guys were able to step up in the important moments in doubles,” he said.
The Gators are 5-1 when they win the doubles point with their only loss coming against UCLA on Feb. 1.
Diego Hidalgo and Spencer Newman finished first against Auburn’s Dante Saleh and Petar Tomic in a speedy 8-2 decision.
Gordon Watson and Elliot Orkin finished second in an 8-5 loss against Daniel Cochrane and Oliver Plaskett to put the doubles point up for grabs. The Watson/Orkin duo hasn’t won a match since Feb. 26 when they defeated Florida State’s Marco Nunez and Grayson Goldin 8-5.
Despite the pressure, Mike Alford and Florent Diep were able to take down Auburn’s Dennis Lengsfeld and Lukas Ollert in a long 8-7 victory to give Florida the doubles point and a 1-0 lead.
In singles, Alford finished first, defeating his opponent Joseph Van Dooren 6-4, 6-1.
Second to finish for Florida was No. 82 Orkin, who has really been improving in his singles play, winning two of his last three singles matches. The freshman, Florida’s highest ranked singles player, defeated Tomic 6-2, 6-2, giving Florida the 3-0 lead.
Hidalgo clinched the match for the Gators, winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, against Saleh.
“Overall, I thought we were pretty sharp on all courts and we competed really well again today,” Shelton said. “It was a good win over a very good Auburn team.”
Follow Britnee McCoy on Twitter @TheReporterGirl
