“Go Gators” may not have been the sound that the Music City expected on a rainy Sunday afternoon, but that’s just what it got. Continuing its recent streak of dominance, Florida men’s tennis (11-7, 6-3 SEC) headed northeast to take on Vanderbilt (8-11, 1-8 SEC). The Gators ended up sweeping the Commodores 4-0 for their third-straight conference win by three or more points.
Vanderbilt entered its home bout against the Gators on a seven-match losing streak. After what seemed to be a promising start to the season, the Commodores were met with struggles in conference play. Hoping to break their recent cycle of SEC losses, they approached the Gators with determination, but were met with a harsh defeat as the latter squad cruised to victory.
UF sophomore Kevin Edengren and freshman Ben Weintraub faced Vanderbilt fifth-year Henry Ruger and freshman Dylan Charlap on court three and found themselves trailing early. The Gators pair ultimately fell 6-3, bringing Vanderbilt within reach of the doubles point.
Despite leading early, 5-2, No. 18 duo junior Tanapatt Nirundorn and sophomore Henry Jefferson found themselves in a court-one tiebreaker against No. 37 duo junior Nathan Cox and senior Michael Ross, as Vanderbilt refused to go down without a fight. However, the Gators were able to hold off the Commodores’ late surge, as Nirundorn and Jefferson bested their opposition in an intense tiebreaker, 7-4, to even doubles play.
UF sophomores Adhithya Ganesan and Jeremy Jin then clawed their way to a win over sophomore Danil Panarin and freshman Pablo Martinez Gomez on court two. One game away from a loss, the Gators pairing miraculously won three straight games to come surging back from down 5-4, earning a 7-5 win and securing Florida the highly contested doubles point.
Florida entered singles focused and played with a purpose, looking to build on a strong doubles performance and maintain its control over Vanderbilt on the Commodores’ home courts. The Gators did just that, immediately taking five first set wins in singles.
Edengren notched Florida’s first point of singles against Ruger on court six. The sophomore never faced any trouble during his 6-1, 6-3 victory, showcasing his power and recording his seventh singles win of the spring season.
Florida senior JanMagnus Johnson had no trouble with Ross on court three, with the former dropping only six games to the latter in a straight-set victory. Johnson’s 6-3, 6-3 win put Florida ahead 3-0 as the Gators showed no signs of slowing down.
No. 113 Jefferson bounced back from his singles loss at Ole Miss, completing the sweep of the Commodores with a hard-fought straight-set win over Martinez Gomez on court four. Despite Martinez Gomez pushing hard to break the Gator, Jefferson never yielded, toppling the freshman 6-4, 7-5 and bringing Sunday’s match to a close.
No. 65 Jin went unfinished with Panarin on court one after winning the first set 6-2. Additionally, No. 124 Ganesan didn’t finish his court-two match with Cox despite a 6-4 win in set one as Florida clinched the match.
Nirundorn didn’t play his match against Vanderbilt junior Tighe Brunetti due to limited indoor court space and Florida securing the 4-0 win.
Up next, Florida will remain on the road to face LSU. The Gators will head to Baton Rouge on Thursday at 6 p.m. to compete in their third straight conference matchup on the road.
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.
