Bears Fall to No. 6 Florida on Sunday, 7-0

Sunday, March 1

Gainesville, Fla.

3:30 p.m.

Mercer University

Florida

Photo by: Katie Linkner

3/1/2020 5:51:00 PM | Men's Tennis

Box Score

The Bears will begin SoCon play next Sunday, March 8

By: Kraig Doremus

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Mercer men's tennis team fell to the sixth-ranked Florida Gators in Gainesville on Sunday, 7-0.

In doubles play, Mercer's Carver Arant and Lucas Wayenburg fell to the pairing of Andy Andrade and Lukas Greif, 6-1. The Gators clinched the point with a win at No. 1 where the 3^rd-ranked team of Johannes Ingilsden and Will Grant topped Olivier Stuart and Hugo Lobo, 6-2.

The match at No. 2 doubles saw the Bears' Stathis Tsiranidis and David Georgadze take a 5-4 lead over Josh Goodger and Duarte Vale but go unfinished after the Gators took the doubles point.

In singles play, Mercer was unable to win a match as the Gators completed the sweep.

Florida pulled ahead by 3-0 score with wins in the No. 3 and 4 flights. First, Arant fell, 1-6, 2-6, despite putting up a fight at No. 4 against the 90^th ranked player in the country, Blaise Bicknell. Tsiranidis won two games in set one and one in the second set but fell at No. 3.

Mercer officially took the loss when the Gators clinched with a win in the No. 6 position. Despite a valiant effort, Georgadze fell to Grant, 3-6, 6-4.

A pair of Bears – Stuart and Lobo – took on players in the top-20 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's singles poll. In the top flight, Stuart battled No. 18 Oliver Crawford and suffered a 1-6, 3-6 defeat. At No. 2, Lobo faced off against No. 4 Sam Riffice and took a combined seven games over two sets but fell, 4-6, 3-6.

How it Happened
SINGLES (Order of Finish: 4,3,6,5,1,2)

No. 18 Oliver Crawford def. No. 46 Olivier Stuart, 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 Sam Riffice def. Hugo Lobo, 6-4, 6-3
Johannes Ingilsden def. Stathis Tsiranidis, 6-2, 6-1
No. 90 Blaise Bicknell def. Carver Arant, 6-1, 6-2
Brian Berdusco def. Lucas Wayenburg, 6-2, 6-4
Will Grant def. David Georgadze, 6-3, 6-4

DOUBLES (Order of finish: 3, 1)

No. 33 Ingilsden/Grant def. Stuart/Lobo, 6-2
Tsiranidis/Georgadze led Goodger/Vale, 5-4 (unfinished)
Andrade/Greif def. Arant/Wayenburg, 6-1

Notables

Today was Mercer's third match against an SEC team. The Bears previously took on Tennessee and Georgia, both of which are ranked in the ITA team poll.
Arant played his first ranked opponent of the year
Stuart played a ranked foe for the fifth time in 13 matches while Lobo faced off against a ranked singles opponent for the fourth time

Up Next
The Bears will begin Southern Conference action when they host the Chattanooga Mocs on Sunday March 8 at 2:30 p.m. from the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center.

Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Tennis, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMTennis (Twitter) and /MercerMensTennis (Facebook) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.