While a Senior Day sendoff normally brings celebration, the Gators were left searching for answers against No. 7 Louisiana State University.
As the Tigers dominated on all fronts, the Gators played from behind in front of a home crowd for their last home conference match of the season.
A late match comeback looked probable, but as senior Lorenzo Claverie fell 7-5 in the final set, the Gators' hopes fell short.
Florida (13-11, 5-7 SEC) was defeated by LSU (23-5, 9-4 SEC) 4-2 to end its home stretch of Southeastern Conference play.
Per usual, at the start of doubles, the third-doubles duo of freshman Andreas Timini and junior Kevin Edengren took the early lead. Tiger duo Enzo Kohlmann and Olaf Pieckowski could not seem to figure the Gators out, as the pair shut them down, 6-3, for Florida’s only doubles win.
As the other two matches strung down to Florida, trailing 5-4, the Gators needed one to turn in their favor.
The pair of senior Pablo Perez Ramos and junior Adhithya Ganesan were almost the delivery of that favor. At first, they kept the match competitive. UF rallied back to score two unanswered points, tying the set at two apiece. Senior Matias Ponce De Leon and freshman Erik Arutiunian then traded games, but Florida pushed on for a comeback. Ramos served difficult shots, while Ganesan tracked down returns and attacked them all over the court. Unfortunately for Florida, it was just short of pushing another two deciding sets as the deuce point fell in LSU’s favor for a 6-4 doubles portion win.
Early struggles kicked in for the No. 8 duo on court one. Senior Tanapatt Nirundorn and junior Henry Jefferson had some miscues as shots couldn't land. LSU’s No. 17 Sasa Markovic and Andrej Loncarevic threw down some powerful serves and returns, but the Gators quickly adjusted. They escaped the possible shutout on a deuce point to stay in the game, down 2-1. From then on, the Tigers narrowed down Florida’s success and took their first tally of the dual match with a 6-4 victory.
For the tenth time this season, Florida needed to win four singles matches to take the dual match victory.
And the Gators couldn’t pull it off. The Tigers carried their doubles momentum into singles as they took a clear lead on most of the courts.
Only two Gators were positioned for a successful singles portion, and it started on court five. No. 48 Ramos made the most of his Senior Day as he took a 3-1 lead in the first set. He continued to outpace Markovic as the Gator won 6-2 to start singles. The second set dragged on when Markovic won the deuce point of the 10th game. Ramos finished his last SEC home match with a 7-5 win to propel his 2025-26 singles record to 17-4.
This dominance followed as junior Jeremy Jin took the first set 6-2 against junior Alessio Vasquez. The No. 81 Australian continued to lead his court as his strong forehand swings zipped past Vasquez. He granted Florida its second and last point of the day with his 6-4 winning performance.
As two of the courts took an early Gator lead, the center court disrupted that run. No. 27 Arutiunian controlled No. 96 Ganesan for a quick 6-2 identical straight set win.
The disruption continued as Jefferson on court four fell to De Leon in the first few games. The Englishman slid around the court and fought for a tiebreaker game. In it, Jefferson was forced to take five straight to win the set but was unable to do so, losing 7-6 (7-4). His game was then left unfinished as Claverie fell.
The only other senior to play in the singles portion was Claverie, but unlike Ramos, he did not share the same victory. No. 104 Andrej Loncarevic defeated the Gator 6-3, 7-5 in his final SEC singles match at home.
Although Edengren has been on a recent hot four-game singles win streak, the Swede fell 6-3, 6-4 to sophomore Enzo Kohlmann.
The Gators will have two hours to recuperate for the last match of the double header against Presbyterian College (9-7) at 5 p.m. on Saturday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex.
Contact Ethan Feinberg at efeinberg@alligator.org. Follow him on X @thefeinline.
Ethan Feinberg is a senior sports journalism student and the Spring 2026 men’s tennis reporter. He has previously written stories and produced audio sessions for WRUF, covering high school football. Ethan enjoys watching and playing sports like football and basketball, working out, fishing, cooking, and having a good laugh with his friends and family. His favorite sports teams are the New England Patriots, Miami Heat, Florida Panthers, and the Miami Marlins. (Drake "Drake Maye" Maye is the GOAT.)
