Florida packed its bags for Athens, Georgia Thursday to hit the road for a weekend against two top 25 teams.
The Gators come back with mixed results.
No. 13 Florida fell 5-2 to No. 1 Southern California — the defending national champions — on Saturday before pulling out a 4-3 upset victory against No. 4 UCLA on Sunday.
On Saturday, the Gators fell short in doubles play for the second consecutive match, as the Trojans’ top two doubles pair beat out No. 49 Maxx Lipman and Elliot Orkin, 6-4, and No. 32 Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson, 7-6.
After an upsetting start to the first match of the weekend, Florida still put up a fight in singles play.
The Gators struggled to stay ahead in singles play. No. 1 and No. 2 courts fell short for Florida but teammates Watson and Hidalgo were each able to put a point on the board for the Gators.
“Our guys played well today,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release. “We had opportunities in every singles match and were able to capitalize fully in a couple spots. … These matches are invaluable to our team. We got better today.”
If only that was enough for Florida.
The youthful team was unsuccessful to bring in two more points for the Gators against USC.
Even after an upsetting loss against USC on Saturday, the No. 13 Gators were not going to let one match affect their weekend.
After losing to USC, UF was able to turn it around.
Florida got ahead early against UCLA in doubles play after doubles duo Oliver Landert and Josh Wardell clinched the doubles point for the Gators.
“Our guys came out fired up today and set the tone early in doubles,” Shelton said. “Elliott Orkin and Maxx Lipman played their best doubles so far and Oliver Landert and Josh Wardell did a fantastic job clinching the doubles point.”
But the Bruins were not going down without a fight once singles play went into action.
All six singles matches battled until the last court was standing. No. 5 court Landert was the deciding factor for the Gators.
After five of the six courts were done with singles play, the score stood at 3-3.
Landert was able to clinch the final point for Florida against UCLA’s Joseph Di Giulio to win the match for Florida.
“All in all, just a team win today,” Shelton said. “ We’ll enjoy the bus ride home and then it’s time to get ready for FSU.”
Florida will take on rival Florida State in its next match on Feb. 6 in Tallahassee.
The Gators have not lost to the Seminoles since the 2006-2007 season.
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
