Alfredo Perez stood on the baseline and watched as the ball sailed just wide. His teammates dogpiled him.
The sophomore and No. 13 ranked player in the country had just defeated the No. 11 player in the country, UCLA’s Gage Brymer, and clinched a Florida victory over the No. 6 Bruins.
Florida kicked off its brutal February schedule against the No. 8 USC Trojans on Saturday, followed by a matchup with fellow Pac-12 powerhouse UCLA.
And on both Saturday and Sunday, the Gators started off their matches from behind.
Florida narrowly lost both doubles matches against its Pac-12 opponents, but it came back fighting in singles play.
“One of those buzz words is resiliency. We really talk about that a lot,” coach Bryan Shelton said. “(We) really sent them a message early that, ‘You’re not going to roll through us. We’re resilient and tough, and we’re going to compete until the last ball is struck.’”
Florida came out firing in singles play on Saturday.
Led by the performances of senior captain Elliott Orkin and sophomore Alfredo Perez, the Gators were able to win five of the first six sets over USC.
Orkin and Perez were the first two Gators to finish their singles matches, winning by respective scores of 6-3, 6-3 and 6-1, 6-2.
And needing to win four out of the six singles matches, Florida won the first four matches, clinching the victory when sophomore Mcclain Kessler hit a forehand winner past USC’s Thibault Forget.
Against UCLA, the Gators responded in similar fashion. Trailing after doubles play, the Gators took control of singles, capturing four of the first six sets.
And with early match wins by Kessler and freshman Johannes Ingildsen, the Gators were able finish the match on the backs of Orkin and Perez once again and knock off a top-10 team for the second time in as many days.
“It comes down to belief,” said Shelton. “They see themselves as a tough, resilient team. And it feels great for our guys to get some validation for the hard work that they’ve put in.”
Contact Mark Stine at mstine@alligator.org and follow him on Twitter @mstinejr.
Alfredo Perez returns a ball during Florida's 6-1 win over Troy on Jan. 17, 2016, at the Ring Tennis Complex.
