Day 1 of the ITA Kick Off Weekend was bittersweet for the UF men’s and women’s tennis teams on Saturday.
The No. 2 Florida’s women’s team — playing in its first dual-match of the season — routed Elon 4-0 to advance to the
But the 13th-ranked men’s team did not experience such fortunes, falling 4-3 to No. 31 Ole Miss.
Men’s tennis started off the tournament on a high note after the No. 43-ranked doubles duo Josh Wardell and Oliver Landert clinched the doubles point for Florida.
But that high note only lasted for a short amount of time.
After extending its lead to 3-0 lead after freshman Chase Perez-Blanco and junior Diego Hidalgo brought in the first two singles points, The Gators (2-1) dropped their remaining four matches.
“I think it was a natural response when you see the opponent coming back and gathering momentum and finding more energy, we’ve got to learn how to create more energy on our side when that’s happening,” coach Bryan Shelton said. “I feel like we were looking around a little bit hoping someone would get the job done for us.”
The season is still young for the men’s tennis team; Shelton shines on the idea that sometimes you have to lose some to learn some.
“I know this one stings a bit, we never like to lose at home but when you have a 3-0 lead and you’re leading in multiple matches and you don’t finish, yeah it’s a tough one to lose but it’s a great one for all of our guys to learn from,”
Junior captain Gordon Watson was the last to finish his match and also struggled to bring in the final point for the Gators after going into overtime with Ole Miss’ Gustav Hansson (7-6, 3-6, 6-7).
“This is sports,” Watson said. “You win some you lose some, you’re up big, then they come back, you’re down and they come back, its sports. We had our opportunities and we didn’t really close today, its just a learning experience for the rest of the season.”
Although the men’s team may have had some challenges today, the women’s tennis team was a different story.
The No.7-ranked doubles duo Brooke Austin and Kourtney Keegan clinched the doubles point for the Gators to give Florida a head start to their tournament.
UF women’s tennis coach Roland Thornqvist said he was not surprised that the younger players on the team were so dominant in their season and believes that there is much more to improve on as the year progresses.
“I was very pleased with our four new players, they all looked comfortable and for the most part played pretty well,” Thornqvist said. “We were very clinical in doubles and singles at the end of games which in this format is crucial if you look at the breakdowns I think we were very good at no-add points.”
Brooke Austin, one of three freshman playing in Saturday’s match-up, was the first of the singles matches to finish to give the Gators its first singles-play win of the season.
“I think our doubles play needs to be a little bit better but I think today everybody still had a little bit of nerves cause it’s our first match, but overall I think we did well,” the No. 6-ranked freshman said.
Florida finished the match early after Austin, freshman Peggy Porter and sophomore Stefani Stojic clinched their matches to give Florida its go-ahead win for the evening.
Not only is Saturday the women’s teams first match but they are also starting the season with back to back days of games. Thornqvist and freshman Austin are both confident that the team is ready for the competition.
“I think we’re ready, I think we’ve been ready for a long time,” Austin said. “Honestly, I’m just going to try and play the way I did today, tomorrow.”
The women’s team is set to play the No. 68 Maryland at 2 p.m. and the men’s team is set to play at 9 a.m. against No. 30 Stanford University.
Follow Caylee Underwood on Twitter @CayUnderwood
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.
Brooke Austin hits an open-stance backhand during Florida women's tennis' 4-0 win against Elon on Jan. 24, 2015, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
