The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Florida (ITA National Team Indoors)
No. 10 Men's Tennis upsets No. 7 Florida, 4-2 in ITA National Indoors opener
02.17.2017 | Men's Tennis
Longhorns hold off Gators in first-round thriller, await No. 2 Wake Forest in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Tenth-seeded Texas (10-1) got out of the gates quickly and held on for a 4-2 victory over seventh-seeded Florida (6-2) Friday afternoon in the opening round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships at The University of Virginia.
"Obviously, to win matches here is really challenging," said 17th-year Texas head coach Michael Center. "To beat a team like Florida feels great. It's a great program, a well-coached team who beat USC and UCLA earlier this season. We weren't quite sure where we stood. We got into the match and fought really hard to come out on top. It was a great effort."
Texas opened the match with wins at the second and third doubles positions to nail down the doubles point. UT freshman Christian Sigsgaard joined sophomore Julian Zlobinsky to post a 6-1 win over the Gators' Elliott Orkin and Chase Perez-Blanco at third doubles.
Florida responded with a victory at the first slot, but UT sophomore Harrison Scott and freshman Yuya Ito put away the doubles point with their 6-2 victory over Maxx Lipman and Josh Wardell at second doubles.
"We have gotten better in the doubles, no doubt," Center said. "The guys have been more aggressive the last few weeks. They've been serving more aggressively, and it was impressive to watch today. Even at No. 1 doubles, we made a couple of service errors that cost us, but those guys played well."
Scott registered his ninth consecutive singles win and remained unbeaten in dual matches this season with his 6-2, 6-1 win over Florida's 60th-ranked Orkin at third singles. Sophomore Leonardo Telles staked Texas to a 3-0 lead behind his 6-3, 6-3 win over the Gators' 76th-ranked McClain Kessler at fifth singles.
The Gators regrouped and posted wins at the first and second singles positions to trim the Texas lead to 3-2, but that was as close as Florida would get. At sixth singles Texas' Banzer dropped the first set to the Gators' Jordan Belga, 6-2 before returning the favor in the second set. Banzer trailed 5-2 in the third set before commencing a lengthy rally to victory.
Banzer prolonged the set and took a 6-5 third-set lead before Belga held serve to force a tiebreaker. Banzer held three match points at 6-3 and delivered on the second point following a long rally to close out the Texas victory. The remaining court featuring Texas' Yuya Ito at fourth singles was suspended.
"In singles, we got to three points quickly but it was really tough to find that fourth point," Center said. "Florida wouldn't go away. They had us against the wall. I was really impressed by Rodrigo Banzer and his mental toughness and the way he came back from 5-2 down in the third set.
Texas advances to Saturday's quarterfinals where it will take on second-seeded Wake Forest, whom it will meet again in Austin next month (March 4).
"We have played Wake Forest several times the last few years," Center added. "We had an unbelievable match last year, won three matches 7-6 in the third set at each one. Wake Forest is one of the best teams in the country. Indoors, Wake is incredibly powerful, one of the most powerful teams in college tennis. We'll have to bring it tomorrow to compete with these guys."
ITA National Team Indoor Championship – First Round (Round of 16)
No. 10 Texas 4, No. 7 Florida 2
Doubles – Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2
1 No. 7 Alfredo Perez/Johannes Ingildsen (UF) def. Leonardo Telles/George Goldhoff (UT), 6-2
2 No. 27 Harrison Scott/Yuya Ito (UT) def. Maxx Lipman/Josh Wardell (UF), 6-2
3 Christian Sigsgaard/Julian Zlobinsky (UT) def. Elliott Orkin/Chase Perez-Blanco (UF), 6-1
Singles – Order of Finish: 3, 5, 1, 2, 6
1 No. 9 Alfredo Perez (UF) def. No. 5 Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-4, 6-2
2 Chase Perez-Blanco (UF) def. George Goldhoff (UT), 7-6, 6-3
3 No. 58 Harrison Scott (UT) def. No. 60 Elliott Orkin (UF), 6-2, 6-1
4 No. 45 Yuya Ito (UT) vs. No. 109 Johannes Ingildsen (UF), 6-7, 6-3, 4-5, susp.
5 Leonardo Telles (UT) def. No. 76 McClain Kessler (UF), 6-3, 6-3
6 Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Jordan Belga (UF), 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
