Like a lion spotting his prey, McClain Kessler’s eyes widened as the ball slowly dropped in front of him. The junior called off his doubles partner, freshman Duarte Vale, and spiked the ball over the net with a loud grunt.
Before his overhead slam even landed a second time to give him the point, Kessler turned around to pump up the crowd, knowing the ball would not be touched.
The No. 12 Florida men’s tennis team swept the Kentucky Wildcats 4-0 at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville on Friday.
Kessler and Vale battled from down 40-love three separate times in their 6-3 victory to clinch the doubles point for Florida (9-6, 4-1 SEC) for the fifth time in six matches.
While Kentucky’s (10-5, 3-1 SEC) aggressive play allowed it to jump out early, the pair stayed composed and secured the doubles point with the clutch play the team had been missing in the last match against TCU.
On Court 1, the No. 1-ranked duo of junior Alfredo Perez and Johannes Ingildsen saw similar issues as it blew an early lead and trailed 3-2. However, Perez’s powerful serves helped the pair rally to win the set 6-3.
With the win, Perez and Ingildsen have won five consecutive doubles sets together. Coach Bryan Shelton attributed the duo’s success to how complementary they are to each other.
“Alfredo (Perez) brings the intensity while Johannes (Ingildsen) is calm and collected,” Shelton said. “Everything flows so well between those two.”
Florida maintained its composure to dominate in singles as well.
Senior Chase Perez-Blanco, who fell behind 4-1 to Kentucky junior Austin Hussey on Court 6, won five straight points to steal the first set 6-4. He carried the momentum into the second set to win comfortably 6-1.
“This was big,” Perez-Blanco said. “Kentucky is a very aggressive team, so we knew we had to keep our composure.”
With this win, Perez-Blanco is one singles win away from 86 in his career which would put him in a tie for 10th all-time at Florida with Mike Alford (2011-14).
On Court 5, freshman Andy Andrade trailed early as well but also won in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.
“We did a much better job in finishing,” Shelton said. “We played our best tennis when it mattered most.”
With the Gators already up 3-0, freshman Oliver Crawford once again stepped up to clinch the match on Court 3. Much like his teammates on Courts 5 and 6, Crawford also overcame a deficit to win in straight sets 6-2, 6-3.
“(Crawford) relishes these moments,” Shelton said. “He loves to play, and he loves to compete.”
This victory was Crawford’s seventh singles win in a row. He is also perfect in SEC play (5-0).
Among those who did not finish were Perez, Ingildsen and Vale. Vale’s duel with Kentucky’s Trey Yates was a heated contest that went into a third set before the match was cut short.
Florida will travel to Nashville on Sunday to face No. 20 Vanderbilt. This will be the Gators’ 12th match against a ranked opponent in their last 13 contests. First serves are set for 1 p.m.
Follow Dylan Rudolph on Twitter @dyrudolph and contact him at drudolph@alligator.org.
Junior McClain Kessler helped win the doubles point en route to the Gators' sweep of Kentucky on Friday.
