With junior Stephane Piro leading the way, the Gators came out firing during their first match of the postseason.
Piro notched two upsets at the No. 1 position in both singles and doubles play as No. 3 seed UF cruised past sixth-seeded South Carolina for a 4-0 victory in the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals Friday morning at the Palmer/Salloum Tennis Center in Oxford, Miss.
Florida now advances to the semifinals, where it will face No. 2 seed Tennessee on Saturday at 11 a.m.
“Our guys came out ready to go this morning,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release. “It was cold and windy, but we didn’t let that or anything else get in our way.”
Florida struggled against South Carolina in a 4-3 road loss on March 8, but the Gators dominated the Gamecocks on a cold and windy Friday morning.
The 37th-ranked doubles duo of Piro and senior Bob van Overbeek defeated South Carolina’s Tsvetan Mihov and Chip Cox, the nation’s No. 14 doubles team, 8-3.
The Gators clinched the doubles point when junior Florent Diep and redshirt freshman Gordon Watson knocked off the Gamecocks’ Thiago Pinheiro and Andrew Adams 8-5.
Florida is 13-1 this season when it earns the doubles point.
Florida took a 2-0 lead when Piro, ranked 68th in singles, beat No. 39 Mihov 6-2, 6-2 on court No. 1. Piro jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first set and never trailed.
The 89th-ranked Diep also won in two sets, handling No. 80 Adams 6-1, 6-4. Three minutes later, Mike Alford clinched the match for UF by defeating USC’s Kyle Koch 6-2, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.
Senior Billy Federhofer (right ankle) did not compete in singles or doubles play for the sixth straight match. His status is questionable for Saturday.
The Gators (15-9, 8-5 SEC) now head into their matchup against the Volunteers after winning five of their past six matches.
Junior Florent Diep strikes the ball during Florida’s 5-2 victory against Miami on Jan. 19 at Linder Stadium.
