No. 18 Florida lost in heartbreaking fashion against arch-rival Florida State, 4-3. The Seminoles jumped out to an early start, grabbing the doubles point and two of the first three singles points.\u00a0 However, the Gators battled back. They took the next two singles matches to even the score at three. Gabor Hornung was the hero for the Seminoles. He won his match against Andreas Timini 2-1 in a third set tiebreaker to give the Seminoles the victory.\u00a0 The Gators have lost three straight against the Seminoles.<\/p>\n
Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex was nearly filled to capacity with fans of both schools arriving to watch a matchup between the rivals.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Doubles<\/p>\n
The doubles matches were back and forth, but after seven games were played on each court, the Seminoles held a 4-3 advantage on all three.\u00a0 The Gators responded by evening the scores at four apiece on all three.\u00a0 The court one pair of Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn evened the set within seconds of the court two pair of Adhithya Ganesan and Pablo Perez Ramos evening theirs, sending the packed crowd into a frenzy.\u00a0 After a game nine win by Jefferson and Nirundorn put them ahead 5-4, they began to hype up the crowd even more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The joy did not last long. Shortly afterwards, the Florida State duo Hornung and Oren Ezerzer closed out their set against Timini and Lorenzo Claverie on court three. Ganesan and Perez Ramos responded by taking their set, meaning the doubles point would be decided by the set on court one.<\/p>\n
The set was tied 5-5 through the first 10 games.\u00a0 The Florida duo served in game 11, but couldn\u2019t convert it into a victory as Luis Felipe Miguel and Erik Schiessl broke their serve to go up 6-5.\u00a0 Felipe Miguel and Schiessl finished the set the next game, but it didn\u2019t come without controversy.\u00a0 When they had match point, the chair umpire deemed a shot in that Jefferson, Nirundorn, and many in the crowd believed was out.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t talk about that,\u201d said Gators coach Andy Steinberg, \u201cIt\u2019s college tennis, it\u2019s gonna happen.\u00a0 There\u2019s always calls against you.\u00a0 When we got to singles, we let it go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Singles<\/p>\n
The first set of singles was not kind to the Gators.\u00a0 Timini, Claverie, and Perez Ramos were all dispatched quickly.\u00a0 All three lost their first set 6-1.\u00a0 Nirundorn didn\u2019t fare much better. He lost his set 6-2 to Mohammad Alkotop.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, it wasn\u2019t all bad for the Gators.\u00a0 Jefferson made quick work of Schiessl in a 6-3 victory.\u00a0 Ganesan came back from a 6-5 deficit and forced a tiebreaker against Corey Craig.\u00a0 After a back-and-forth affair, Ganesan took the tiebreaker and a 7-6 victory in the set.<\/p>\n
After the end of the first sets, many fans left the arena knowing that it would take a significant comeback by the Gators to secure a victory.<\/p>\n
Even though the situation was dire for the Gators, they did not give up.\u00a0 Timini and Perez Ramos stormed back and took their second sets, evening the matches at 1-1.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEarly in the second sets, they both got a break,\u201d said coach Steinberg, \u201cPablo (Perez Ramos) needed to mix up his game more and use his drop shot more.\u00a0 He was trying to hit through the guy and he was making a lot of errors.\u00a0 When he started to actually play the game of tennis, it got a lot better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAndreas (Timini) started to play deeper in the court and started to make the guy work.\u00a0 You could see the guy was cramping.\u00a0 He made him play a million balls.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jefferson finished off Schiessl to win his match in straight sets and get the Gators their first point.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the second set wasn\u2019t all good for the Gators.\u00a0 Nirundorn split the first four games of his set, but lost the next four to lose in straight sets against Alkotop.\u00a0 Similarly, Claverie split his first six games of the set, but lost the next three.\u00a0 This gave Florida State a 3-1 advantage, meaning that they would only have to win one of the remaining matches to upset their rivals.<\/p>\n
That point did not come from Craig, as Ganesan won a back-and-forth set 6-4 to cut the Gators\u2019 deficit in half.\u00a0 After Ganesan\u2019s victory, most of the fans still in attendance moved to the right side of the bleachers to watch Perez Ramos\u2019 and Timini\u2019s third sets on courts four and six, the two courts furthest to the right.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perez Ramos maintained control over his set.\u00a0 He jumped out to an early 2-0 lead over Azariah Rusher and kept the lead throughout the match.\u00a0 Perez Ramos broke Rusher\u2019s serve in the set\u2019s ninth game to close out the 6-3 victory.\u00a0 This evened the score at 3-3. The fate of the contest came down to Timini vs. Hornung.<\/p>\n
Timini vs. Hornung<\/p>\n
Timini fell behind 2-0 to open up the set, but quickly responded by evening the score at 2-2.\u00a0 The pair then went back and forth breaking the other\u2019s serve until Hornung stopped the cycle in game nine to take a 5-4 lead over Timini.\u00a0 Timini was able to respond once again, tying the affair at 5-5 to set up a crucial game 11.\u00a0 Timini took a 40-30 lead with a chance to take a 6-5 lead, when Hornung sent a shot past Timini to tie the game at 40.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
On the game tying shot, Hornung fell to the ground with an apparent injury.\u00a0 After the team doctor checked him out, Hornung got back onto his feet and into the match.\u00a0 Timini, unfazed by the incident, took the next point and was in a great position to win the set.\u00a0 Game 12 came down to the wire.\u00a0 The score was tied at 40-40.\u00a0 If Timini took the point, he would win the contest for the Gators.\u00a0 If Hornung took the point, he would force a tiebreaker.\u00a0 The crowd was all on their feet and dead silent.\u00a0 Timini double faulted, sending the match to a tiebreaker for all the marbles.<\/p>\n
Timini\u2019s fate in the tiebreaker would be sealed by another costly double fault.\u00a0 Hornung took a 6-4 lead in the first-to-seven tiebreaker. \u00a0 Timini once again double faulted, giving the victory to Florida State.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The moment after his second serve landed out, Hornung\u2019s teammates who were standing on the neighboring court swarmed him as they celebrated beating their biggest rival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was an extremely tough loss for us,\u201d said coach Steinberg, \u201cAfter coming back like we did, it\u2019s extremely disappointing.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Steinberg added: \u201cWe didn\u2019t play well tonight.\u00a0 To come back the way we did showed a lot of heart.\u00a0 There are a lot of positives in getting into a position to win.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t think we played well enough to do that and all of a sudden I\u2019m looking up at the scoreboard and we have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida takes the court next on Sunday at No. 9 UCF at 10 a.m.\u00a0 The Gators have lost their last two matches against the Knights.<\/p>\n