The doubles tandem of freshman Sam Riffice and sophomore Oliver Crawford walked into the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida, fresh off a couple of wins at the ITA Kickoff event where it dropped just one point.
It carried that momentum into its 6-1 drubbing of UCF’s Mikhail Sokolovskiy and Alan Rubio on Thursday. Senior McClain Kessler and sophomore Duarte Vale won by the same margin, setting the tone against the Knights as UF won 6-1.
The Gators swept the doubles point and dominated singles play with wins from Riffice, sophomores Andy Andrade and Johannes Ingildsen to clinch the overall victory.
Riffice and Crawford did not quite replicate their dominance from last weekend, but they still quickly dispatched of Sokolovskiy and Rubio, allowing only eight of the match’s 34 points. A similar story played out on Court 3 as Kessler and Vale ran away with a 6-1 victory to secure the doubles point for the Gators.
Riffice ended his day with an exclamation point after a dominant 6-0, 6-0 victory against Rubio in singles play. The freshman limited his opponent to just 19 points across the two sets.
The Gators got their second win of the day on Court 2 when Andrade emerged victorious against UCF freshman Juan Pablo Grassi Mazzuchi to the tune of a 6-1, 6-2 win.
Ingildsen had to fight more than his other teammates, but he received a well-earned, 6-4, 7-5 win against Trey Hilderbrand.
Vale and freshman Lukas Greif also won their singles matches, but sophomore Oliver Crawford’s loss prevented the Gators from sweeping the Knights. This was the Gators’ 19th-straight win against UCF, who has never defeated UF in men’s tennis.
The men’s tennis team continues its spring season on Saturday against cross-state rival Florida State in Lake Nona.
Follow Brendan Farrell on Twitter @Bfarrell727 and contact him at bfarrell@alligator.org.
UF men’s tennis player Johannes Ingildsen won his match against UCF’s Trey Hilderbrand 6-4, 7-5 on Friday night.
