The Gators had already clinched the match. A crowd of over 350 fans had dwindled down to just a handful. In its home opener against UCF on Monday night, Florida was just about ready to return to the locker room victorious. But junior McClain Kessler was still battling for a third-set win on the No. 6 singles court.
If you hadn’t known UF held a 5-1 lead over UCF, you might have thought it was tied 3-3 and Kessler was playing with the match on the line. He celebrated pivotal points with raucous cheers. His teammates supported him passionately, watching from the adjacent court. The team’s enthusiasm never died.
Kessler beat freshman Mikhail Sokolovskiy 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 in just under two hours of play, securing the Gators’ 6-1 victory over the Knights.
Coach Bryan Shelton recognized his team’s energy as a defining quality of this year’s squad.
“We have guys that are just loving being here, playing here, competing here,” he said.
But playing to the crowd is a balance. And some players might have found themselves on the wrong side of that balance.
“It hurt us a little bit (Monday) because we had guys run out of gas,” Shelton said. “I think they were trying to win it all in one point.”
Shelton was referring to freshman Duarte Vale, who fell in a third set tiebreaker to freshman Alan Rubio.
Vale was crucial to securing the doubles point earlier in the match, winning with Kessler on the No. 2 doubles court. The duo drew excitement from the crowd and Vale continued to pump up the home fans throughout his singles match.
After coming back to win the first set, however, Vale struggled to string enough points together to close it out.
“I think he ended up fatiguing himself,” Shelton said of Vale. “He was so amped up with the crowd.”
Florida plans to use its first experience playing in front of an excited home atmosphere to learn and improve for its upcoming matches at the ITA Kick-Off Weekend on Saturday and Sunday in Gainesville.
Shelton also wants to see his team be more aggresive on the court, stating his players need to improve their positioning and stand closer to the baseline.
“We’ll take a look at what we did (Monday) and continue to get better,” he said.
Follow Benjamin Brandt on Twitter @bhb1227 and contact him at bbrandt@alligator.org.
Bryan Shelton said his players need to conserve their energy better following Monday’s win over UCF. “We had guys run out of gas,” he said.
