Florida Men’s Tennis Has Short Stay In NCAA Tournament

The Florida Gators men’s tennis team was ousted from the NCAA Tournament in the first round Friday by UCF, 4-3, at the Tallahassee Regional.

The Gators end their season at 13-12 after the Knights (18-5) avenged a 6-1 loss in Gainesville earlier this season.

UF jumped to a 1-0 lead by taking the doubles point thanks to wins by Adhithya Ganesan-Tanapatt Nirundorn and Nate Bonetto-Aidan Kim at the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center.

Gators up 1-0!!!

Bonetto/Kim (UF) def. Cronje/Giamichelle (UCF), 6-4
Nirundorn/Ganesan (UF), Llanes/Sanchez (UCF), 6-3
Branger/Colin (UCF) vs. Edengren/Jin (UF), 5-4 unf.#GoGators 🎾🐊 pic.twitter.com/OLq9En73U8

— Gators Men’s Tennis (@GatorsMTN) May 3, 2024

But the Gators got into trouble in singles when they dropped five first sets to UCF. Kim and Bonetto were the only singles winners for UF, which saw Jeremy Jin, Ganesan, Nirundorn and Kevin Edengren fall.

Huge win for Kim on court one:

Kim (UF) def. Dlimi (UCF), 6-2, 6-0

UF up 2-0#GoGators 🎾🐊 pic.twitter.com/LUCWWvrmdb

— Gators Men’s Tennis (@GatorsMTN) May 3, 2024

UCF will play No. 10 Florida State (22-7) in the second round at 1 p.m. Saturday. The Seminoles eliminated North Florida 4-1 in the other first-round match.