Chase Perez-Blanco served the ball on a critical deuce point. He was serving for match point against the third-ranked player nationally, Ohio State’s Hugo Di Feo.
But Di Feo held on and won the point, breaking Perez-Blanco and swinging the momentum of the match completely in favor of the Buckeyes.
"He gave himself a chance twice, and he blinked," Florida coach Bryan Shelton said. "All of a sudden, he backed off a little bit, and that’s all it takes. You back off an inch and these guys at this level will seize the opportunity."
The No. 10 Florida men’s tennis team lost a tough match on Sunday to the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes (14-1).
The Gators (7-4) started the match off strong, winning the doubles point in dominant fashion.
Perez-Blanco and partner Josh Wardell led the Florida charge early, winning their match 6-2.
The power tandem of Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen, who defeated the nation’s 20th ranked doubles pair in Mikael Torpegaard and Herkko Pollanen, followed up their strong efforts to seal the critical point for Florida.
“I think if we play like that, (it) gives us a lot of confidence that we can win at every spot,” said Shelton. “If we can keep building on what we did today, I like our chances moving forward of being able to secure more doubles points.”
However, the Gators’ momentum slowly drained as singles play progressed.
Florida lost the first set in four of its six singles matches, giving Ohio State the advantage despite the Buckeyes’ failure to win in doubles.
And quality tennis came from all over the court for No. 2 OSU.
On Court 1, Torpegaard, the country’s top-ranked college tennis player, faced off with Perez, who had just knocked off two top-five opponents a week prior. Torpegaard showed power and longevity against Florida’s top player, winning the match 6-4, 6-3.
High-level tennis also came from Pollanen, who was able to take down Perez’ doubles partner, Ingildsen, in two sets as well, 6-1, 6-2.
Yet most crucial was the performance from Di Feo against Perez-Blanco.
Perez-Blanco served for the match on two occasions but was broken by Di Feo both times, forcing a second-set tiebreak.
Di Feo went on to win the tiebreak, the third set and the match for the Buckeyes.
“I’ve got lot of respect for them,” Shelton said of the Buckeyes. “For playing the (indoor) schedule that they’ve played already, and for them to come down here and get a win outside, says a lot to their preparation and the hard work those guys are doing.”
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
Senior Chase Perez-Blanco and two of his teammates will be recognized for their contributions to the team before tonight's Senior Day matchup with Alabama.
