TALLAHASSEE – The Florida State men’s tennis team (5-3) is set to face in-state foe No. 18 Florida (3-0) on Friday at 5 p.m. at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex with free admission to all spectators.

FSU and Florida are set for its 90th meeting in the historic matchup as Florida holds a 66-23 record against the Seminoles that dates to 1956, where the Gators took the first win of the series with a 9-0 overall score. The two teams have traditionally met at the USTA National Campus in recent years and this will be just the second time in a decade that the rivalry is played in Gator territory.

Florida enters the showdown following a strong performance at the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Gators punched their ticket to the ITA National Indoor Championship for the first time since 2023, after upsetting No. 13 Columbia and moving to a record of 5-1 over the Lions.

The Seminoles enter the match having swept the Gators 4-0 for the second consecutive season, doing so last year in front of a packed crowd at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center. The doubles tandem of Erik Schiessl and Joshua Dous-Karpenschif proved pivotal, battling through a back-and-forth contest before earning a decisive break at 4-4 and serving out the doubles point. The pair had won four straight matches and remained undefeated on court two at the time.

Azariah Rusher made his debut appearance in the rivalry match and worked through the first frame 6-3 before finding his rhythm and clinching his singles victory with a commanding 6-1 second set. The Florida native rebounded from his lone loss of the season to seal his fifth win in 2025.

Luis Felipe Miguel, who has been a force in both singles and doubles play this season, will compete in his first rival matchup after winning his fifth singles match of the spring, after a 6-4, 7-5 win over Filip Gustafsson of Arizona. Schiessl and Miguel have been a dynamic duo in the last few matches, clinching two doubles points in consecutive days against Arizona after competing at the ITA Kickoff against Pepperdine.

Live video and stats will be available on Seminoles.com.

For more information on the Florida State men’s tennis program, check Seminoles.com and follow us on social media at Florida State Men’s Tennis (FB) and FSUMTennis (IG and X).