The No. 9 Florida men's tennis team won all of its matches in a 7-0 sweep of No. 70 Florida A&M on Saturday afternoon at UF's Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. With the win, UF improves to 2-0 while the Rattlers slip to 0-2. The Gators have now started each of their last 13 seasons with two straight wins.
UF swept the doubles point. At No. 2, Troy Hahn and Jeremy Wurtzman won six games in a row en route to a 8-3 win. UF clinched the point when the nation's third-ranked team of Olivier Levant and Nathan Overholser posted a 8-6 win at No. 1 with Overholser holding serve to seal the victory. Freshmen Trey Johnson and West Nott needed seven match points but posted a 8-4 win for UF at No. 3 to wrap up doubles play.
Singles play opened with Levant losing his first three games at No. 3. The Parisian junior won the next 12 games though and was first off the courts with a 50-minute 6-3, 6-0 win. Hahn finished strong, breaking serve in five of the last six points in his 6-1, 6-4 win at No. 4 . Wurtzman would provide the clinching win at No. 2, 6-1, 6-3. Overholser wrapped up his 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 next, taking match point with an ace. Johnson earned his first career dual match win with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Kareem Bennett at No. 6. Johnson broke serve at 3-3 in the second set and held serve from there, converting on his first match point. Nott was last off the court. After a 16-minute 6-0 first set win, he wound up playing into a third set. Final set service breaks at 3-3 and 4-4 gave him a 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 victory.
"It was a little better than yesterday (5-2 win over UCF)," UF head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "We still have a ways to go but this is where I expected we'd be at this point in the season. Wurtzman did a much better job today. I'm starting to realize that he needs to be challenged out there and he did much better than yesterday. I think Olivier is starting to 'feel it' too. He's playing by his instincts and that's really good."
Levant and Overholser will compete at the Rolex Indoor Championships, starting on Feb. 1 in Dallas. The two will compete in doubles while Overholser was also selected for the prestigious singles draw. The event is the third leg of the collegiate grand slam. UF returns to action as a team on Feb. 9 when the Gators travel to Tallahassee to face No. 42 Florida State.
Doubles
No. 1 #3 Olivier Levant/Nathan Overholser (UF) def. Isaac Yarrell/Kamau Murray (FAMU), 8-6
No. 2 Troy Hahn/Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) def. Josef Clark/Noel Wadawu (FAMU), 8-3
No. 3 West Nott/Trey Johnson (UF) def. Lenin Mongerie/Kareem Bennett (FAMU), 8-4
Singles
No. 1 #9 Overholser (UF) def. Yarrell (FAMU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 2 #75 Wurtzman (UF) def. Mongerie (FAMU), 6-1, 6-3
No. 3 Levant (UF) def. Murray (FAMU), 6-3, 6-0
No. 4 #70 Hahn (UF) def. Clark (FAMU), 6-1, 6-4
No. 5 Nott (UF) def. Wadawu (FAMU), 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
No. 6 Johnson (UF) def. Bennett (FAMU), 6-1, 6-4
