After a dominant win over Arkansas, a dogfight at Ole Miss and a strong performance against Vanderbilt, the Florida men’s tennis team looked ready to take on anyone who stood in their way.
The LSU Tigers (10-13, 0-10 SEC) hosted the Florida Gators (12-7, 7-3 SEC) determined to grab its first SEC win. However, they couldn’t pull out a win over a tough Gators squad.
UF sophomores Jeremy Jin and Adhithya Ganesan had no trouble against Louisiana State senior Julien Penzlin and freshman Enzo Kohlmann De Freitas on court two. The Gator pair jumped to a 3-1 lead early and never let the guard down, defeating LSU’s pair in under thirty minutes and earning UF the doubles advantage.
Sophomore Kevin Edengren and freshman Ben Weintraub made an impressive comeback against sophomores Brock Anderson and Alessio Vasquez on court three to secure the doubles point for Florida. Down 3-1, Edengren and Weintraub dug deep to win five of the next six games and secure a 6-4 win over LSU.
No. 18 sophomore Henry Jefferson and junior Tanapatt Nirundorn abandoned their match with LSU freshmen Sasa Markovic and Andrej Loncarevic trailing 5-3 as Florida took a 1-0 advantage heading into singles.
The Tigers looked to get rolling in singles, but the Gators kept just out of reach, winning four of the six matches. However, it wasn’t easy, as four matches went into a third set.
Edengren had no problem taking a straight-set victory over LSU sophomore Rudy Ceccon on court five. After Edengren routed him 6-1 in the first set, Ceccon put up a better fight in set two but fell 6-3 as UFtook an early 2-0 lead.
However, LSU wouldn’t go down easy as No. 113 Jefferson came short to Loncarevic in straight sets on court four. The match quickly turned into a dogfight, as the latter’s 6-3, 6-3 win cut Florida’s lead to 2-1.
Despite dominating the first set, Nirundorn fell to Kohlmann De Freitas on court six in three sets. After losing set one 6-1, the LSU freshman flipped the script, winning 6-2 in the second set. From there, Nirundorn was out of gas, falling 6-1 in the final set, as LSU tied the match 2-2.
No. 124 Ganesan put the Gators back on top with a hard-fought three-set win over Vasquez on court one. Although Ganesan was trampled 6-1 in the first set, he came surging back to win sets two and three 6-3 and 6-2, respectively, giving Florida a 3-2 lead.
After falling 6-3 to Penzlin in the first set, No. 65 Jin locked in and charged to a 6-3 win of his own in set two. From there, Jin pushed his opponent and proved to be too much for LSU. He won the third set 6-1 to clinch the match for Florida with a 4-2 lead.
UF senior JanMagnus Johnson added UF’s fifth point with a three-set win over Markovic on court three. Johnson won the first set in a back-and-forth tiebreaker, 7-6(5), but lost set two 6-4. From there, Johnson dominated with a perfect sweep in the third set, 6-0, to secure the Gators a 5-2 win.
Up next, Florida will wrap up its four-game road trip in Starkville and look to earn its fifth straight conference win against Mississippi State at 2 p.m.
Contact Curan Ahern at cahern@alligator.com and follow him on X at @CuranAhern
Curan is the men's tennis beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major. He enjoys spending his free time with pets, at the beach and fishing.
