GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Florida Gators Men's Tennis defeated the Vanderbilt Commodores in the first round of the SEC Championship Tournament, 4-2. The win sends the Gators to the Quarterfinal round of the tournament for the 23^rd consecutive year.
 
How it Happened
The Gators dropped the doubles point to start the match, with losing sets on courts one and two. Vanderbilt took 3-1 leads on one and two, and would hold those margins for the rest of the set, with Vandy's Casabon/Cox winning court one 6-4, and Klopper/Ross taking court two 6-2.
 
In singles play, Tanapatt Nirundorn collected the first point for Florida, defeating Vanderbilt's Michael Ross on court five. Once trailing 2-0 in the second set, Nirundorn won six of seven games to finish the set, and his opponent, with a 6-3 score. Nirundorn extends his streak of singles matches without a loss to seven straight, including five wins in that stretch.
 
Nate Bonetto shined in his return to the court three position, dominating Vanderbilt's Jeremie Casabon to a 6-4, 6-3 score. The first set was a battle, but Bonetto secured an early break point and hold his advantage to earn a first set win. In set two, the junior was able to claim a 3-0 lead to open, and held that margin to seal Florida's second point.
 
Adhithya Ganesan took Florida's first lead of the match with his 7-5, 6-1 showing on court four. Ganesan went game for Game before securing a late break point to take a 6-5 advantage and hold serve to win set one. He held that momentum and ran away with the second set, finishing his match with a commanding 6-1 second set.
 
Aidan Kim opened singles play by dropping a 3-6 first set against Vanderbilt's Nathan Cox. Kim returned with a vengeance, netting an easy 6-2 second set to force a third. Kim once again ran away with the set, eventually leading 5-1 in set three. Cox fought valiantly to work a 5-4 score before Kim held serve to claim court two and a 4-2 match win to send Florida to the Quarterfinals
 
Next up
The Gators will face Tennessee in the SEC Championship Tournament Quarterfinal round. The match will begin at 3 p.m. ET in Baton Rouge. Tennessee claimed victory over the Gators this season on March 10, when Tennessee claimed a 6-1 win in Knoxville.
 
From Head Coach Adam Steinberg
On the match, and his team's comeback win…
"It's like the expression… 'survive and advance.' That is exactly what we did. That's a very good team, they're very tough, they make a lot of balls, we knew that coming in… First time for a lot of these guys, playing in the postseason, I'm proud of them. After the doubles, we're in five of those six singles matches, we're right there… Great effort, great hard-fought win. We're excited to play tomorrow.
 
Results
Singles competition
1. #61 Danil Panarin (VUM) def. #52 Jeremy Jin (UF) 6-3, 6-1
2. Aidan Kim (UF) def. Nathan Cox (VUM) 3-6, 6-2, 6-4
3. Nate Bonetto (UF) def. Jeremie Casabon (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
4. Adhithya Ganesan (UF) def. Joubert Klopper (VUM) 7-5, 6-1
5. Tanapatt Nirundorn (UF) def. Michael Ross (VUM) 6-4, 6-3
6. Kevin Edengren (UF) vs. Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 6-1, 5-7, 5-1, unfinished
 
Doubles competition
1. Jeremie Casabon/Nathan Cox (VUM) def. #23 Nate Bonetto/Aidan Kim (UF) 6-4
2. Joubert Klopper/Michael Ross (VUM) def. #69 Tanapatt Nirundorn/Adhithya Ganesan (UF) 6-2
3. Kevin Edengren/Jeremy Jin (UF) vs. Danil Panarin/Hugo Coquelin (VUM) 4-4, unfinished
 
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt Men's Tennis 13-12; National ranking #40
Florida 13-10; National ranking #25
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (1,5,3,4,2)
 
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