The moment after Lukas Greif clinched the match in a third-set tiebreaker to give the Gators men’s tennis team sole possession of first place in the SEC, Oliver Crawford jumped on top of him, followed by the rest of his teammates.
It was a celebration that showed the importance of the win.
Greif’s win capped off a 5-2 win for No. 2 UF over the No. 7 Aggies on Sunday at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville.
“It feels unbelievable,” Greif said. “I can’t thank the guys that cheered me on enough because I couldn’t have done that without them.”
Both teams entered the match undefeated in SEC play. The winner would have the best path to the SEC regular season championship. With the Gators’ win, they are off to their best start in conference play since 2005 when they started 11-0. They just need to win two of their final matches against Alabama, Auburn and South Carolina to take the trophy.
Regardless of the outcome, a streak was going to end on Sunday. Florida (17-2, 9-0 SEC) entered on a 10-match winning streak against ranked opponents. The Aggies (17-4, 7-1 SEC) won 14 in a row, highlighted by a victory over No. 1 Ohio State on March 11. They also came in with a 21-match winning streak in the SEC dating back to 2017.
In their 16th-consecutive match against a top-50 opponent, the Gators fell in doubles for the second-straight match. Senior McClain Kessler and sophomore Duarte Vale fell 6-3 on Court 1. On Court 2, the Aggies took the point when sophomore Crawford and freshman Sam Riffice lost 6-4. Florida’s match on Court 3 with junior Johannes Ingildsen and senior Alfredo Perez was cut short, despite coming back from a 5-1 deficit to make it 6-5.
UF responded in singles as it won the first set on all six courts, but TAMU matched it in the second set. A third set was forced on Courts 3, 4 and 5 by No. 32 Valentin Vacherot, No. 76 Barnaby Smith and Noah Schachter.
On Court 6, Vale did not allow a third set, beating Austin Abbrat 6-4, 6-2 to even the match at one. Soon after, No. 51 Riffice gave the Gators the lead with 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) win over No. 62 Hady Habib.
The lead was extended to 3-1 after Crawford beat No. 77 Juan Carlos Aguilar 6-2, 6-4. Crawford’s celebration angered Aguilar and the Aggies’ coaching staff, with Aguilar screaming curse words at the umpire, and Crawford and Aggies’ coach Steve Denton yelling at Florida coach Bryan Shelton.
Vacherot defeated UF’s sophomore Andy Andrade 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 to make it 3-2.
Despite Florida’s lead, there was a nervous energy in the air. Greif’s match on Court 5 seemed destined to head to a tiebreaker in the third set as Greif and Schachter traded games. On Court 4, Ingildsen trailed Smith in the third set 3-1. It was still a match the Aggies had a strong chance of winning.
That didn’t happen, though. Greif won his tiebreaker 7-3 to clinch the match with a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 win. Ingildsen then roared back to take his match 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 and put the Gators ahead 5-2.
Crawford said the focal point is still the same despite the huge win.
“Our focus is day-by-day,” Crawford said. “We are just trying to get better and improve.”
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1 and contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Sophomore Oliver Crawford: "Our focus is day-by-day. We are just trying to get better and improve.”
Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.
