Freshman Jeremy Wurtzman (Rochester, N.Y.) and sophomore Troy Hahn (Indianapolis, Ind.) won their singles matches but it would not be enough as the No. 22 Florida men's tennis team lost, 5-2, to No. 27 Auburn on Saturday afternoon at the Tigers' Luther Young Tennis Complex. The match had been postponed from Friday evening due to rain. The loss evens the Gators at 6-6 on the year with a 2-1 SEC record while the Tigers improve to 6-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play.
"Nathan (Overholser) was playing really, really hurt," UF head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "I'd rather not have him in the lineup but Olivier (Levant) can not go and Ross (Greenstein) can not go so we have literally run out of bodies. I Thought Jeremy and Troy and Matt (Behrmann) in particular did a good job today but we've got to find a way to get healthy. Hopefully we can find a way to win against South Carolina tomorrow and stop the bleeding a little bit."
Doubles play started with the Gators and Tigers splitting the first two matches. Mark Kovacs and Rameez Junaid posted a 8-3 win at No. 2 for AU over Hahn and junior Olivier Levant (Paris, France) while freshman Ross Greenstein (Minnetonka, Minn.) and sophomore Matt Behrmann (Indianapolis, Ind.) won at No. 3 for UF, 8-4, over Andre Boz and Estevam Strecker. The doubles point came down to a showdown of ranked teams at No. 1 but Auburn's seventh-ranked tandem of George Matijasevic and Tiago Ruffoni was too much for senior Nathan Overholser (Okemos, Mich.) and Wurtzman, defeating the nation's #16 team, 8-4.
In singles play, lopsided AU wins at No. 5 and 6 gave the Tigers a quick 3-0 edge but the Gators drew to within a point at 3-2 after Wurtzman and Hahn's wins. Wurtzman defeated 23rd ranked Ruffoni at No. 2 to mark the second highest ranked win of his young Gator career while Hahn defeated Junaid at No. 3. Matijasevic clinched the match for Auburn with his 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 1 over Overholser.
The Gators return to action on Sunday, March 11 when they travel to Columbia, S.C. for a noon match with No. 55 South Carolina.
Doubles
No. 1 #7 George Matijasevic/Tiago Ruffoni (AU) d. #16 Nathan Overholser/Jeremy Wurtzman (UF), 8-4
No. 2 Mark Kovacs/Rameez Junaid (AU) d. Troy Hahn/Olivier Levant (UF), 8-3
No. 3 Matt Behrmann/Ross Greenstein (UF) d. Andre Boz/Estevam Strecker (AU), 8-4
Singles
No. 1 George Matijasevic (AU) d. #15 Nathan Overholser (UF), 6-1, 7-5
No. 2 #43 Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) d. #23 Tiago Ruffoni (AU), 6-2, 6-4
No. 3 Troy Hahn (UF) d. Rameez Junaid (AU), 6-4, 6-2
No. 4 Estevam Strecker (AU) d. Matt Behrmann (UF), 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4
No. 5 Mark Kovacs (AU) d. West Nott (UF), 6-2, 6-1
No. 6 Andre Boz (AU) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-1, 6-2
