This past weekend, the Stanford men’s tennis team (1-2) went head-to-head with South Carolina (3-0) and Florida (3-1) in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend competition in Gainesville, Florida.

Despite many hard-fought matches in both rounds, especially by some of the Cardinal’s youngest competitors, Stanford lost to both teams, missing out on two opportunities to upset a couple of the nation’s most competitive programs.

Stanford began the weekend against No. 29 South Carolina on Saturday morning, dropping a 4-1 decision to the Gamecocks. Seniors John Morrissey and Robert Stineman propelled the Cardinal to an early doubles lead with a 6-3 win at the top spot of the lineup, but the Gamecocks hit back with a victory at the third spot and another win at the second spot to secure the doubles point.

In singles, the Cardinal earned one point from freshman Tom Fawcett’s 6-4, 6-2 victory over Thiago Pinheiro at the No. 1 position, but the Gamecocks went on to clinch the match with a victory at the fourth spot over Stanford freshman David Hsu.

The following day, Stanford lost 4-2 to No. 13 Florida on the Gators’ home courts. Again, the Cardinal gained early momentum in doubles, this time winning the point with a 6-2 victory by Fawcett and junior Maciek Romanowicz, and a 6-1 victory by junior Nolan Paige and senior Trey Strobel.

After winning the doubles point, freshman David Wilczynski overpowered Gators freshman Chase Perez-Blanco 6-1, 6-0, giving the Cardinal a 2-0 lead. Nevertheless, Florida turned the tables quickly, winning four consecutive singles matches and clinching the match with a win at the No. 3 position over Morrissey.

After defeating the Cardinal, the Gators ended up securing a spot in the ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championships, which will be hosted by the University of Illinois in mid-February.

Overall, the team may not have done as well as it expected to, but it now has a better idea of what it needs to improve on, and the weekend gave the younger competitors a chance to better see what kind of energy it will take to beat top-tier competition moving forward.

The Cardinal’s next match will be against UNLV at 2 p.m. this Saturday at Taube Tennis Center.

Contact Sam Schwager at sams95 ‘at’ stanford.edu.