The Gators ended their fall season with mostly wins as they stepped off their home courts in the Florida Invitational on Sunday.
Unranked Miami, North Florida and No. 8 Texas played No. 15 Florida at the Ring Tennis Complex, which began Friday.
The Gators ended with a record of 19-3 in singles, with most of Florida’s losses coming against higher-ranked Texas.
Sophomore Maxx Lipman, ranked No. 100, was one of four Gators to win all three of his matches in the tournament. The sophomore finished the season with a win over University of North Florida’s Jack Findel-Hawkins, 6-2, 6-1.
Sophomore Elliott Orkin, junior Diego Hidalgo and redshirt freshman Oliver Landert also finished the season also finished their singles matches unscathed this weekend.
Chase Perez-Blanco dropped his second match to University of Texas’ No. 106 Adrien Berkowicz, 6-3, 7-6(4) but finished the season with a win over UNF’s Lasse Muscheites, 6-2, 6-4.
Joshua Wardell won his first match of the tournament against University of Texas’ William Jou, 6-1, 7-5.
In his second match, he defeated University of Miami’s Nile Clark, 6-2, 6-3.
While the victories were encouraging, not all Gators ended their season with a "W."
No. 70 Gordon Watson dropped his second match to University of Texas’ No. 113 Nick Naumann, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1.
Senior Richard Brej dropped his third match to Kevin Bondar, 6-3, 6-1.
The Gators ended their Fall season 17-1 in doubles with one loss from pair Wardell and Landert against University of Miami’s Bernard Tefel and Andrew Harrington, 8-5.
"I can see the work that we’ve done in practice, a lot of the foundation things we’ve worked on in practice, are showing in matches," assistant coach Mark Merklein said in a release.
"Physically, we’re stronger… I’m very happy with the fall. From the mid-point to the finish has been really good."
As the Fall season wrapped up on Sunday, the smaller tournament gave the Gators a chance to end in wins, and six of the eight who played won their last matches of 2014.
In the six tournaments Florida competed in this fall, only one player left with a title.
Orkin won the singles title in the UF-hosted SEC Fall Classic on Sept. 22. Aside from the 5-foot-8 right-hander’s win, the Gators had two players reach the semifinals — Perez-Blanco in the 2014 USTA Collegiate Court Invitational Nov. 1 and Lipman in the USTA/ITA Regionals Championship Oct. 19.
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Elliot Orkin returns a ball during the Florida Invitational at UF's Ring Tennis Complex.
