The Gators men’s tennis team started its dual-meet season on a high note.
With a combined 12 matches (four doubles, eight singles) played on Saturday, No. 13 Florida (1-0) defeated William & Mary (1-1) 9-3 on Saturday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
Coach Bryan Shelton considers this match to be just the starting point for the rest of the season and is confident that as the season progresses so will his players.
“I felt like our guys showed a lot of grit and we are very energetic throughout,” the third-year head coach said. “I feel like we just need to continue getting better and we got better today.”
After starting off with a 3-1 bout in doubles play, the Gators ended their season debut winning six of eight singles matches.
Six of UF’s singles players won the first set of their singles match, while four were able to sweep through all three of their sets.
The Gators saw strides Saturday from sophomore standouts Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman
In doubles play, the duo ran out to a fast start against the Tribe’s Will Juggins and Lard de Boer, winning 10-2 on the No. 2 court.
After a promising freshman year, Orkin brought his talents back to Florida this spring season. Orkin, who earlier this week quoted “the sky is the limit this year” winning all three sets (6-4, 6-2, 6-2) against Juggins during on Saturday.
The 5-foot-8 Marietta, Georgia native is looking forward to what the rest of the season has to come for Florida.
“If you go through lines one through eight I would guess that not everyone played their best match,” Orkin said. “But we all have things to work on and we’ll definitely get better as the season progresses.”
No. 34 Lipman went head to head with freshman Christian Cargill on the show court, ultimately taking two of three sets (7-6, 6-7, 6-3).
Two of the three sets between Lipman and Cargill went into a tiebreak. Lipman was able to pull together a win for Florida in the last set with a (6-3) third set.
“There were a lot of tough points out there and tough positions I was in but I played really well and I was happy I was able to pull out a win for the team,” Lipman said “We should be able to build on what we did (Saturday) and in practice and throughout the season.”
Florida’s next home game is Friday at 3 p.m. against Troy University.
“As we get ready for Monday, our next practice, we need to come ready again and utilize this week before we play on Friday,” Shelton said. “This team is developing a good mindset, their working hard and they understand that no days are promised.”
Follow Caylee Underwood on Twitter @CayUnderwood
Elliott Orkin returns a ball during Florida's 9-3 win against William & Mary on Saturday at the Ring Tennis Complex.
