After a tough loss to Ole Miss on Day 1 of the ITA Kick Off Weekend, Florida was determined to bring home a win Sunday morning in the tournament’s consolation match.
The No. 13 Gators did just that, defeating No. 30 Stanford 4-2 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
Florida (3-1) had a slow start against Stanford (1-2), losing the doubles point at home for the first time since its 4-3 loss to Georgia on March 16 — a span of eight home matches.
"I thought (Stanford) came out there and just played outstanding," UF coach Bryan Shelton said. "Josh (Wardell) and Oliver (Landert) I think were caught on surprise a little bit on how affected those guys were."
But Florida has seen that clinching the doubles point does not guarantee a victory.
"We could of very easily lost that match after losing the doubles and just been like ‘Ah, it’s not our day again’ and lost, but all the guys stayed really positive," junior captain Gordon Watson said.
Florida trailed 2-0 once singles play began after freshman Chase Perez-Blanco fell 6-0, 6-1 to Stanford’s David Wilczynski on the No. 5 court.
But redshirt freshman Oliver Landert, junior Diego Hidalgo and sophomore Elliot Orkin followed up with three straight victories to give UF a 3-2 lead, leaving Watson challenged to bring home the go-ahead point for the Gators for the second straight match.
And this time, Watson was able to bring in the final point for Florida, finishing the second day of the ITA Tournament and adding a (4-2) win to Florida’s season.
"Coming back from (Saturday), there was no way I was losing that match," Watson said.
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Gordon Watson hits an underhand volley during Florida men's tennis' 4-3 loss to Ole Miss on Jan. 31, 2015 at the Ring Tennis Complex.
