Saturday, the Florida Gators men’s tennis team (3-3) was swept by the No. 23 Florida State Seminoles (5-2). The Seminoles dominated the Gators from start to finish in front of a rowdy crowd at the United States Tennis Association National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida.
In doubles action on Court 1, Gators sophomore Tanapatt Nirundorn and freshman Adhithya Ganesan took on Florida State senior Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc and junior Joshua Dous-Karpenschif. The Seminoles pair jumped on the Gators early, getting a break of serve and going up 5-2. The Gators would try to mount a comeback but would fall short, losing the set 6-4.
On Court 3, Florida freshman Jeremy Jin and Henry Jefferson played against freshman Azariah Rusher and junior Alex Bulte for the Seminoles. Jin and Jefferson dominated the FSU pair, winning the match 6-2.
On Court 2 for the Gators was the No. 38-ranked duo of junior Nate Bonetto and freshman Aidan Kim. They took on Florida State’s No. 52-ranked team of graduate student Loris Pourroy and senior Youcef Rihane. This match went to a tiebreaker at 6-6.
The women’s team also took on Florida State at the same complex, so players from both teams and their respective fans gathered around this match to watch the tiebreaker that would decide the doubles point for the men’s match. Florida State sprinted away with the tiebreaker 7-1 to take the doubles point and claim a 1-0 lead in the overall match.
The Seminoles carried the momentum into the singles matches, taking five-of-six first sets. On Court 1, Florida’s No. 57 Aidan Kim took on Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc of the Seminoles. Cornut-Chauvinc dominated Kim, taking the match in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. Florida State now led the match 2-0.
The next court to finish was Court 6, where Gators freshman Kevin Edengren faced Florida State junior Alex Bulte. Bulte was clinical with his play, defeating Edengren 6-3, 6-3. The Seminoles now led the match 3-0.
Graduate student Loris Pourroy would be the man to clinch the match for FSU with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over freshman Adhithya Ganesan on Court 2.
The Gators had leads in the remaining three matches, but none of them finished after the Seminoles had clinched the match.
Following the match, Florida head coach Adam Steinberg said the team lacked energy at the start of singles action.
“When you lose the doubles point like that, you got to change the momentum with our energy, and I didn’t feel that,” Steinberg said.
He said the team needs to take these losses and learn from them moving forward.
“It’s a young team, all of these are such great lessons for the guys, for sure,” Steinberg said. “I know they don’t always look at it that way now, but they will.”
The Gators will be back in action Feb.10 to face the No. 4 Texas Longhorns in Austin, Texas.
Contact Chandler Hawkes at chawkes@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @HawkesChandler.
