There was one pressing question facing Florida’s men’s and women’s tennis teams this weekend: How would they respond to their most difficult challenges of the season?
So far, the results have been mixed.
The men’s team began competition Friday at the Southern Intercollegiate Championships at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex on Georgia’s campus in Athens. No. 2 seed senior Johannes Ingildsen and junior Brian Berdusco advanced to doubles semifinals with a 6-4 win.
Florida’s two other doubles tandems, juniors No. 3 seed Duarte Vale and Andy Andrade along with junior Josh Goodger and sophomore Lukas Greif, fell in the second round. On the singles side, No. 31 Andrade, No. 52 Vale, No. 68 Goodger and freshman Blaise Bicknell all advanced to the second round of singles action. No. 64 Ingildsen, No. 70 Greif and Berdusco lost in first-round action.
“Overall, we are getting exactly what we need – competitive matches,” coach Bryan Shelton said in a release. “We have some specific goals for this weekend and are looking forward to accomplishing those goals.”
The women began play at the USTA Fall Ranked Spotlight at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida. UF went one-for-two in doubles. No. 6-ranked juniors McCartney Kessler and Victoria Emma were defeated, but freshman Layne Sleeth and sophomore Marlee Zein picked up a victory to advance to the second round. Florida had an overall disappointing performance in singles. It went 1-3 with the one highlight coming from Sleeth, who advanced to Round 3. No. 23 Kessler, No. 85 Zein and No. 91 Emma all were eliminated from the main draw for the Gators.
"Layne (Sleeth) was especially clinical in her play,” coach Roland Thornqvist said. “Hopefully saving her legs today will give her an edge the rest of the way when the competition stiffens."
Follow Noah Ram on Twitter @noah_ram1. Contact him at nram@alligator.org.
Noah is a third year journalism-sports and media student from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. He has been with The Alligator since Spring 2019 and has covered men’s and women’s tennis, gymnastics and volleyball. When he isn’t on his beat, Noah is usually sadden over his beloved South Florida sports teams, such as the Heat and Dolphins.
