GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The No. 18 Gators fell to Florida State, and now have a record of 64-25 against the Seminoles. It was a hard-fought battle for the Gators, playing out all three doubles matches and all six singles courts.

The Gators dropped behind the Seminoles early after losing the double’s point. The pairing of Lorenzo Claverie and Andreas Timini were defeated by Gabor Hornung and Oren Ezerzer from FSU 4-6. Responding to the loss, the duo of Pablo Perez Ramos and Adhithya Ganesan defeated No. 82 ranked Mohammad Alkotop and Azariah Rusher 6-4 on court two. However, the Gators lost their chance at the doubles point after No. 6 Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn were edged out by Florida State’s No. 43 Luis Felipe Miguel and Erik Schiessl 5-7 on court one.

The team knew they needed a big come back in singles to hang around in the match. No. 115 Jefferson kicked things off with a 6-1, 6-3 win against FSU’s Schiessl on court three. However, two losses followed suit from Claverie on court two and Nirundorn on court five to put the Noles up 3-1. The Gators responded once again with a win by Ganesan on court one against Corey Craig (FSU) and a comeback victory on court four by Ramos, winning 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 against Rusher. This made the match a 3-3 with the deciding point falling to court six with Timini. Timini fought back hard after a first set loss to Hornung (1-6). Timini took set two 6-1, but was not able to hold out against Hornung in the final set, falling just short (6(4)-7).

Straight from Steinberg

Coach Steinberg’s opening statement…

• “It was an extremely tough loss for us. When you’re serving for the match there, after coming back like we did, it’s obviously extremely disappointing, especially with this rivalry, it’s a tough to lose that way after coming back. We didn’t play well tonight and to come back the way we did showed a lot of heart and there were a lot of positives like getting in a position to win because I didn’t think we played well enough to do that. All of a sudden, I’m looking up at the scoreboard and we have a chance so that was a big positive.”

Coach Steinberg on what he saw from Pablo and Andreas to turn around the matches after a first set loss…

• “I think early in the second sets, they both got an early break. I think Pablo needed to mix up his game or use his drop shot more. He was trying to hit through the guy and it’s difficult and he was making a lot of errors. When he started to actually play the game of tennis, it got a lot better and Andreas too. He started to play an adjustment deeper in the court and just started to make more balls and make the guy work. Obviously, the guy was cramping and he made him play a million balls, so that helped him get back in.”

Results
Doubles

ORDER OF FINISH: 3, 2, 1

Singles

ORDER OF FINISH: 3, 2, 5, 1, 4, 6

Up Next

The Gators look to bounce back against No. 9 UCF on Sunday, Feb. 1 at 10 a.m. EST. The Gators will play the Knights at the USTA National Center indoor courts due to the cold temperatures forecasted for that day.

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