The UF men’s tennis team opened up its season on Saturday by battling not only its opponents, but the will of nature.
The No. 11 Gators faced off in a doubleheader against Georgia Southern in the morning and Kennesaw State in the afternoon, playing in harsh, windy conditions.
“It’s never easy playing in the wind,” senior captain Elliott Orkin said. “I feel like when we are playing teams that on paper aren’t as good (as us), they see that as an equalizer.”
Despite the conditions, the Gators dominated their opponents in both the doubles and singles phases of the matches.
Led Orkin, Florida didn’t lose an individual match, sweeping each contest 7-0.
Orkin, like many of his teammates, participated in two doubles and two singles matches on the day. The senior captain didn’t drop a set in all four of his matches.
“He’s a guy that’s going to do the right things at the right time,”coach Bryan Shelton said of his captain.
Orkin said UF also gets leadership from senior Maxx Lipman, who captained the Gators last season, and junior Chase Perez-Blanco, who Shelton named his “MVP” for Saturday.
“I thought the guy he played from Georgia Southern brought a lot of good stuff,” Shelton said. “Chase was able to match it shot for shot.”
Perez-Blanco only played in the morning against Georgia Southern, and despite facing “good stuff” from his opponent and the Eagles’ No. 2 player, Dani Casablancas, the junior shut him down in two sets, 6-1, 6-1.
But Shelton saw plenty of things his team needs to work on before it hosts the ITA Kick-Off next weekend.
“We’ve got to continue to work on our ball striking,” he said. “We are going to have to work on hitting better targets in practice and being able to have set plays that we’re working to execute.”
Florida will start next week’s tournament on Saturday against UNC-Wilmington and, with a victory, will play the winner of South Florida vs. LSU on Sunday.
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
Elliott Orkin returns a serve during Florida's 6-1 win over Troy on Jan. 17, 2016, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
