They say the first cut is the deepest.
But in this case, it was the first loss that hit the hardest.
When No. 13 Florida fell 4-3 to No. 31 Ole Miss on the first day of the ITA Kick Off Weekend, the Gators used the loss as motivation to improve on their weak spots.
"It’s kind of a bitter lesson to learn early in the season but better to learn at the early part of the season rather than later," coach Bryan Shelton said. "Three of those (singles) matches kind of slipped away. ... In sports we’ve got to finish, just like in life. And our guys struggled to finish that day."
The Gators refused to hang their heads low and let the losing streak continue.
After the loss, Florida showed No. 30 Stanford on Day 2 of the tournament just whose court they were standing on.
"I’m really proud that we found a way to find a win when our backs were against the wall," Shelton said about his team after losing the doubles point to Stanford on Sunday.
"I think we were down in four of the six singles matches and for our guys to show true resolve and come back from that and find a way to win was a real testament to their character," Shelton said.
The third-year head coach will be the first to agree that his team is far from perfect.
Considering the team’s youth, Shelton was impressed to see the Gators fight back from a tough position despite losing its first doubles point of the season.
"As a coach that’s what you want to see," Shelton said.
"You know you’re going to get knocked down, you know you’re going to face adversity but being able to get back up on your feet and take responsibility for the things you did wrong and then trust in the training, trust in the coaches, trust that you can get back out there the following day and get the job done was great to see."
Florida hopes to apply that attitude to its matchup on Saturday against No. 1 Southern California in Athens, Georgia, and again on Sunday when they face No. 4 UCLA.
"Those are two programs that do it right, they have great coaching, great athletes, they play a style that I like, they play all court tennis, they attack," Shelton said.
"So, for our guys, what a great opportunity for them to see what the best teams look like."
Follow Caylee Underwood on Twitter @CayUnderwood
UF men's tennis coach Bryan Shelton walks on the Ring Tennis Complex courts prior to Florida's 5-2 win against North Florida on Jan. 22
