Falling behind was something new for Florida.
But the Gators were not going to become familiar with losing on Sunday.
No. 12 UF (4-0) put together a 4-2 comeback victory against UNC-Wilmington (3-1) to advance to the ITA National Indoor Championships next month in Seattle.
“It was a true test for us at this stage for where we are at,” coach Bryan Shelton said. “I thought that they came out and punched us right in the mouth right off the bat.”
After coasting to victory in doubles during Saturday’s 7-0 win against St. John’s, Florida lost its first doubles point of the season on Sunday.
With the score 4-4, the Gators’ No. 3 doubles pair — Stephane Piro and Bob van Overbeek — failed to take the lead in the deciding point, giving the Seahawks’ duo of Michael Reilly and Kaue Pereira the 5-4 advantage. From there, UNC-Wilmington won three straight points to earn an 8-4 victory in the first doubles match.
Florida’s No. 1 doubles team nearly duplicated the result. The 45th-ranked Gators pair of Mike Alford and Florent Diep took on the 10th-ranked Seahawks’ duo — Kosta Blank and Chris Cooprider. At 4-4, the Seahawks took the lead and didn’t look back, winning 8-5.
Winning easily in Saturday’s match 8-1, Gators duo Billy Federhofer and Gordon Watson led their match 7-4 before it was halted when the Seahawks clinched the doubles point.
“We didn’t want to lose focus or get down,” Shelton said. “One of the things we have done well is we have come out and play good singles. We felt like we would come back and rebound in the singles.”
Florida started singles play with a victory. Federhofer defeated Pedro Mol in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Minutes later, however, Seahawks’ No. 37 Rafael Aita defeated No. 26 Florent Diep in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Linder Stadium fell silent after Diep, the Gators’ top singles player, lost.
But redshirt freshman Watson stepped up under pressure to beat UNC-Wilmington’s Kosta Blank 6-2, 6-4, which tied the match at 2-2.
Down 3-0 in the third set, van Overbeek battled back to win 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. The Gators, nursing a 3-2 lead, needed a victory from either Alford or Piro.
“It was nerve-wracking, but at the same time, when you’re down like that, you know you have to win,” he said. “It’s not hard to find motivation to keep playing when you’re down like that.”
Serving 40-15 on match point, Alford crushed the ball into Pereira’s service box, causing him to hit it into the net, clinching the victory and a trip to the ITA Indoor Championships for the Gators.
“Moving on creates more opportunities to play against quality teams,” Shelton said.
“I hope that we are a different team come three months from now when we are looking at the SEC tournament and NCAAs.”
Gordon Watson hits a ball during Florida’s 7-0 win against St. John’s on Jan. 6, 2013. The junior won the singles event of the Gainesville ITA Circuits Draw on Monday.
