GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Luke Casper and sophomore Stefan Storch earned impressive singles wins and No. 20 Noah Schachter and Kenner Taylor claimed a top-10 doubles victory as the No. 21 Texas A&M men’s tennis team fell 5-2 to No. 3 Florida Sunday at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex. The Aggies fell to 21-12 on the season and 7-5 in league play while the Gators moved to 20-2 this spring and 12-0 in conference matches.
Schachter and Taylor bested No. 7 Sam Riffice and Ben Shelton, 6-3, on the top doubles court to earn their signature victory of the season. The A&M pair improved to 14-5 this spring including a team-best five ranked wins. The Gators earned the doubles point to open the match with wins on doubles courts two and three.
Shortly after singles play began, inclement weather forced a two-hour delay before the decision was made to move the remainder of the match indoors. Florida’s indoor facility contained three courts so play on courts one, two and five started first.
Florida picked up points by No. 1 Shelton over No. 41 Schachter on court one followed by a 6-4, 6-4 win by No. 23 Riffice over Raphael Perot on court two.
Casper bounced back from a 6-1 first set loss to rattle off a 7-5 second set and 7-6(2) victory in the deciding third set against No. 113 Josh Goodger on court five. The win was the second ranked win of Casper’s career as he improved to 17-3 in dual matches and 10-2 in league play.
No. 89 Andy Andrade clinched the win for the Gators as he bested Giulio Perego 6-4, 6-2 on court four. No. 86 Duarte Vale tripped up A&M’s Guido Marson, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 on court four to post the final point of the day for the home team.
Storch waited out the delay and wasted little time capturing his first SEC win of the season as he topped Lukas Greif 6-4, 6-1 on line six. Storch improved to 8-2 in dual matches and claimed his fourth straight win.
UP NEXT
After the trip to the Sunshine State, A&M will head to Athens, Ga. for the SEC Tournament. The Aggies will begin play Thursday at 10 a.m. (CT) against Arkansas.
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QUOTES
Steve Denton, Texas A&M Head Coach
On the match…
“I thought this match was a really good tennis match between two teams very familiar with each other. We have had great battles with Florida over the years and this one was no different. We have a tremendous amount of respect for their team and we love to compete against them. I thought our team competed hard today and the Gators were just the better team on the day. We are competing and getting better and as coaches that is what we are looking for going into post season.”
RESULTS
Texas A&M vs Florida
4/17/2022 at Gainesville, Fla.
(Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex)
#3 Florida 5, #21 Texas A&M 2
Singles competition
1. #1 Ben Shelton (UF) def. #41 Noah Schachter (TAMU) 6-3, 6-2
2. #23 Sam Riffice (UF) def. Raphael Perot (TAMU) 6-4, 6-4
3. #86 Duarte Vale (UF) def. Guido Marson (TAMU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
4. #89 Andy Andrade (UF) def. Giulio Perego (TAMU) 6-4, 6-2
5. Luke Casper (TAMU) def. #113 Josh Goodger (UF) 1-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-2)
6. Stefan Storch (TAMU) def. Lukas Greif (UF) 6-4, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. #20 Noah Schachter/Kenner Taylor (TAMU) def. #7 Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) 6-3
2. #28 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar (UF) def. Austin Abbrat/Stefan Storch (TAMU) 6-4
3. Nate Bonetto/Duarte Vale (UF) def. Giulio Perego/Raphael Perot (TAMU) 6-1
Match Notes:
Texas A&M 21-12, 7-5 SEC; National ranking #21
Florida 20-2, 12-0 SEC; National ranking #3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (1,2,5,4,3,6)
Weather delay from 2:15-4:40 p.m.
Match moved indoors after delay.
T-6:30 A-435
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