Florida men’s tennis hit the halfway point of its fall season a week ago, when the team hosted the ITA Southeast Regional Championship. The tournament ran from Oct. 8 to Oct. 13, during which 15 schools across Florida and Georgia competed for the opportunity to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament in November.
Even with home court in their back pocket, Florida could not find any advantages during the competition. The tournament ran from Wednesday through Monday, but the farthest Florida made it was Saturday before being eliminated.
The Gators sent senior Tanapatt Nirundorn, juniors Jeremy Jin, Henry Jefferson and Kevin Edengren, and freshman Andreas Timini to compete, all of whom played in singles competition. Following an undefeated run at the Holmes Cathrall Memorial Invitational at Penn State, Nirundorn and Timini teamed up, while Jin and Edengren also partnered up in doubles play.
Both doubles teams earned a round of 64 byes, so they got doubles play going in the round of 32 against FAU freshman Bullion Sharp and sophomore Jan Kusy. The Gator duo handled its business against the Owls with an 8-3 win.
However, Jin and Edengren’s time in the doubles tournament did not last long, as FGCU junior Jonathan Baron and sophomore Tanner Povey pulled off the second-round upset 8-4.
With a spot in the quarterfinals on the line, the pair took on FSU juniors Azariah Rusher and Mohammad Alkotop. The interstate rivals locked horns in a competitive match, but Nirundorn and Timini took an early lead and never looked back, winning 8-4.
After defeating one set of Seminoles in the round of 16, the Gators found themselves set with another battle against Florida State in the quarterfinals. This time, Florida faced senior Luis Felipe Miguel and junior Erik Schiessl, who are the No. 43-ranked doubles team. The Seminoles took a big lead, putting Florida in an early hole. Nirundorn and Timini fought hard to get back into the one-set match, but ultimately fell to Miguel and Schiessel 8-5.
On the singles side, all five players were slotted in the main draw, where it was tough sledding for Florida. Jefferson and Nirundorn both were beaten by the Georgia Bulldogs in the first round. Jefferson fell in a two-set thriller against sophomore Gabriele Vulpitta 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), while freshman Noah Johnston defeated Nirundorn in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. With the losses, Nirundorn and Jefferson wrapped up the ITAs in the consolation rounds, where each Gator pulled off wins.
Edengren and Timini both secured first-round victories. Edengren defeated FAU junior Vanja Hodzic in comeback fashion, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. Timini cruised over UNF graduate student Breno Marques in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. However, each Gators’ singles run ended in the round of 32 at the hands of the Florida State Seminoles. Edengren was wiped clean in straight sets by Felipe 6-2, 6-4, while Alkotop pulled out a third-set win over Timini. Timini dropped the first set 6-3, battled back to win the second set 6-4, before falling 6-4 in the final frame.
Jin made it the furthest with back-to-back first and second-round straight-sets wins over Mercer senior Nemanja Stefanovic, 6-4, 6-3 and Stetson graduate student Alexandre Verlaguet, 7-5 and 6-3. Jin matched up with Schiessl (FSU), who is ITA-ranked 120th in singles play, in the round of 16. Jin looked good at the start of the match, with a first set win 7-5, but Schiessl woke up and handled Jin the next two sets with 6-2 wins in both the second and third sets.
With the ITA Championships in the books, Florida will regroup for the next couple of days before heading to Norman, Oklahoma, for the M25 Norman that begins Monday and ends Oct. 26.
Contact Hunter DeLauder at hdelauder@alligator.org. Follow him on X
