At the end of a hard-fought battle in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, the FGCU men's tennis team (14-9) came out on the losing side of a 4-0 match against No. 3 Florida (22-3) at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex on Friday afternoon.
"I felt Florida played a great match today and they showed why they are the third-best team in the country," head coach CJ Weber said. "The doubles point was really important for us and we just couldn't quite get it. We fought hard, but couldn't get in position to get UF back on their heels at all. I was proud of the way we played overall, nonetheless. I love this team. They are great tennis players and even better young men. They have done a great job of representing themselves and FGCU in everything they do. I will miss all the good moments with them, both on and off the court."
After numerous weather delays, the match began at about 3:30 p.m., which was about three and a half hours later than its scheduled start time of noon.
Despite the delay, the Eagles came out aggressively and jumped out to early 2-0 leads on both the first and third courts. The Gators claimed their first victory of the afternoon with a 6-3 match at the second flight of doubles play. The duo of seniors Felipe Escobar and Mateo Ruiz held on to its lead through the first few points but eventually was defeated 6-4 by its Florida competitors.
At the time the Gators claimed their 1-0 lead, the match featuring FGCU juniors Feliksas Sakalauskas and Felipe Ramirez was tied up at 4-4.
Florida garnered some momentum after claiming the doubles point and won the first set on all six courts.
SEC Freshman of the year Sam Riffice, ranked No. 54 in the national standings, tacked on to the home team's edge with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Ramirez (Armenia, Colombia/Florida Virtual School) at the second court.
Escobar held on to No. 113 Johannes Ingildsen for the first few points on court three, but the Gator came out on top of a 6-4, 6-0 triumph that extended Florida's lead to 3-0.
Senior Javier Fernandez, who entered the NCAA Tournament on an 11-match winning streak, was defeated 6-1, 6-4 by No. 90 Duarte Vale at the sixth flight. Vale, coincidentally, also entered the match on an 11-match winning streak and grabbed the final point of the day for Florida with his win.
Tebet posted the smallest margin of defeat for the Green and Blue, dropping the first set by a score of 7-6 on court four. Sakalauskas was down 5-3 in the second set of the fourth flight and Montes was duking it out with No. 9 Oliver Crawford at the time the match was clinched.
FGCU is now 0-3 in the NCAA Tournament, having dropped two of those matches to the Gators. It was the Eagles' third postseason appearance since 2015.
2015 – L 4-0 at No. 16 UCLA
2017 – L 4-0 at No. 15 Florida
2019 – L 4-0 at No. 3 Florida
Results
Singles competition
1. #9 Oliver Crawford (UF) vs. MONTES, Juan (FGCU) 6-2, 5-1, unfinished
2. #54 Sam Riffice (UF) def. RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) 6-1, 6-4
3. #113 Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. ESCOBAR, Felipe (FGCU) 6-4, 6-0
4. Alfredo Perez (UF) vs. TEBET, Marcelo (FGCU) 7-6 (7-4), 5-0, unfinished
5. #59 Andres Andrade (UF) vs. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas (FGCU) 6-4, 5-3, unfinished
6. #90 Duarte Vale (UF) def. FERNANDEZ, Javier (FGCU) 6-1, 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 6
Doubles competition
1. Johannes Ingildsen/McClain Kessler (UF) def. ESCOBAR, Felipe/RUIZ, Mateo (FGCU) 6-4
2. Sam Riffice/Alfredo Perez (UF) def. TEBET, Marcelo/MONTES, Juan (FGCU) 6-3
3. Andres Andrade/Duarte Vale (UF) vs. SAKALAUSKAS,Feliksas/RAMIREZ, Felipe (FGCU) 4-4, unfinished
Order of finish: 2, 1
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