(TEN) M Tennis v Vandy

Like the Vandy women, men's team is down....5-9 on the year. They have lost their last 3 SEC matches being swept by South Carolina and UGA, Vols beat them 6-1
Translation, another match we have to win

Go out and play poorly in doubles, killed on court 2, lose 6-4 on 1, were in a tight match on 3

Have to win 4 singles matches now. Same lineup as last match, no Nate with Brawell at 3, Orli at 4, Tokac at 5, Greif at 6

 

Must be inside for weather, only 5 matches underway
2-2 on first 3 courts
Orli down a break, Tokac up 3-0

 

Strong run on courts 1-3
Nefve 6-3
Grant 6-3
Braswell 6-4

Orli 4-6
Tokac hot start is cooled but up 5-3

 

And Tokac broken for 5-4....lost 4 of last 6 games

 

Grant with a great finish...6-1 second set
Braswell is up 5-0 and should be our second point shortly

Nefve battling wins 2 straight to go up 4-3 and serving
Orli with a strong second set up 5-2
Tokac goes from 3-0 to losing first set in a TB. Lot of talent but needs to learn to adjust and scrap...this seems to be a theme

 

Nefve a carbon copy of set one, comes from behind to win 6-3
Braswell wraps his match 6-1 for UF's third point

Orli forces a third set
Tokac was up 2-0 and 30 love, loses 4 straight points and momentum again

 

Tokac broken at love...8 straight points.
Orli down 0-1 but on serve
Greif should be cranking up in a sec

 

Orli 3rd set is really tight, down 2-3 but on serve
Tokac has lost 5 straight games and isn't competitive, disappointing
Greif out on fire, quickly up 4-0....may need his point to avoid another disaster

 

Orli gets broken in a deuce game to go down 3-5, he's in trouble now
Tokac loses, didn't see much from him today vs an average at best opponent
Greif throws up a first set bagel

 

And Orli goes down quickly....so we sit at 3-3 vs a bad Vandy team. Welcome to the 23 UF men's team

 

I'm kind of the same way....and after cruising Greif had some tough games to start the second so I was sweating. He has hung tough and up 3-1

 

5-2 now...lot of deuce and 40-30 games this set, but Greif got the early break and has hung onto it

 

Greif gets it done....very important win

Looking at the schedule, UF is now 8-7. There are 4 matches that UF will be a huge underdog of the remaining 7. UF has to win the other 3 (Aub, Arky, TAMU). Arky is bad, Aub is jekyl/hyde so who knows what we get there, and TAMU appears comparable to UF but maybe better. Looks like at best UF is 11-11 heading to SEC tourney.

 

Wonder if coach pulls a Thornquist and adds a patsy to the schedule to get an extra W to insure we make postseason

 

I saw that about being the first win after losing doubles. Grant continues to impress with the strides he has made.