Special to GC
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The University of Florida men's tennis team fought for two-plus hours and downed Kentucky, 4-2, in the second round of the SEC Tournament at the Mitchell Tennis Center in College Station, Texas on Thursday morning. The No. 6 seed Gators will now take on No. 3 seed Mississippi State in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals. That match is scheduled to be played tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET. UF took the lead early with dominant doubles play, as the nation's No. 50 pairing of juniors Diego Hidalgo and Gordon Watson clinched the doubles point for Florida with a 6-3 win at the No. 2 position. The No. 51 tandem of sophomores Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin earned the first doubles point for UF after beating UK's No. 69 team of Jerry Lopez and Nils Ellefsen by the same score. In singles, UK won on courts one and two, while freshman Chase Perez-Blanco won the No. 4 singles match in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4. With the match knotted at 2-2, sophomore Maxx Lipman gave UF a 3-2 lead with a straight-set win in the No. 5 match, 6-3, 6-4. Watson clinched the match for UF by winning two closely contested sets (7-6, 7-6) over UK's Trey Yates in the No. 3 spot. The SEC Tournament format consists of a single-elimination tournament of six singles and three doubles. Once a team clinches the match, all play stops immediately for matches in progress. There will be no consolation matches. Singles and doubles champions shall not be named. Complete information about the tournament, including links for live scoring, can be found online through Texas A&M's website, www.12thman.com<http://www.12thman.com>. 2015 University of Florida Men's Tennis Mitchell Tennis Center College Station, Texas Thursday, April 16, 2015 Doubles FLORIDA vs KENTUCKY Winner Score/match length Maxx Lipman (51) Jerry Lopez (69) No. 1 - Elliott Orkin (51) Nils Ellefsen (69) UF 6-3 Diego Hidalgo (50) Kevin Lai No. 2 - Gordon Watson (50) Gus Benson DNF 5-4, DNF Chase Perez-Blanco William Bushamuka No. 3 - Joshua Wardell Trey Yates UF* 6-3 Singles FLORIDA vs KENTUCKY Winner Score/match length No. 1 - Diego Hidalgo (53) Jerry Lopez UK 6-4, 6-3 No. 2 - Elliott Orkin (116) William Bushamuka UK 6-2, 6-2 No. 3 - Gordon Watson Trey Yates UF* 7-6, 7-6 No. 4 - Chase Perez-Blanco Nils Ellefsen UF 6-3, 6-4 No. 5 - Maxx Lipman (120) Kevin Lai UF 6-3, 6-4 No. 6 - Joshua Wardell Jake Stefanik DNF 7-5, 2-7, DNF FINAL SCORE: Florida - 4 Kentucky - 2 * Clinched victory Records: Florida 14-7 Kentucky 14-16 Order of Finish: Doubles: 1, 2* Singles: 2, 4, 1, 5, 3* Attendance: NA Quotes from the Match Shelton's Notes - Head Coach Bryan Shelton On today's win... "Overall, I just really pleased that we were able to advance. We came out and played good doubles. It was nice to get off to a good start in the match. We played them (Kentucky) just this past Friday and we lost that same point. All three [doubles] teams came out ready to play and they played really well. In singles play, they certainly didn't go away. It was one of those matches where we weren't playing our very best, but we were competing hard. It wasn't pretty in a lot of places but we were able to advance by getting the necessary points over a gritty Kentucky team." On Mississippi State... "I'm looking forward to the match tomorrow against Mississippi State. We know those guys well, so we are going have to get some rest and be ready to go tomorrow." Florida vs. Kentucky: UF extended its all-time lead versus UK to 45-14 with today's win, including a 6-0 mark in the SEC Tourney. Leading the Way: Rookie Chase Perez-Blanco and sophomore Maxx Lipman and junior Gordon Watson all recorded singles victories for the Gators to clinch today's match. Perez-Blanco now has a team-high 25 singles victories this season. It Takes Two: No. 51 Maxx Lipman and Elliott Orkin took down its second-straight ranked opponent as they beat UK's No. 69-ranked Jerry Lopez and Nils Ellefsen, 6-3. This past Sunday, the two Gators downed the then-No. 3 doubles team in the country, Mikelis Libietis and Hunter Reese of Tennessee, 6-4. Looking Ahead: #17 Florida (14-7) vs. #20 Mississippi State (18-6) Friday, April 17 at 1 p.m. ET Mitchell Tennis Center, College Station, Texas Live Stats: http://statb.us/e/89257