Florida Gators
Arkansas
Men's Tennis Senior Beats Nation's #1 in UF Win
Friday, March 2, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Overholser and freshman Jeremy Wurtzman won their match at No. 1 doubles over Oskar Johansson and Henrik Tofft, 8-4. It proved to be the 89th doubles win of Overholser's career, breaking the previous school record of 88 set from 1996-2000 by Justin O'Neal. Overholser finished off the match by posting aces on each of the final two points. In singles, Overholser trailed Johansson, the nation's top-ranked player, 6-4, 3-0 but produced a stirring rally. Tied at 5-5 in the second set, Overholser broke serve and won four straight points on his own to take the second set 7-5. The third set was all even at 3-3 when Overholser again broke serve to take command of the match. Up 5-3 and 30-40 with Johansson serving, Overholser benefitted from an unforced error as Johansson pushed match point wide, giving the Gator senior the victory.
"It's safe to say that I'm very happy," Overholser said. "Going into today I had a lot of things on my mind. Setting the doubles record isn't everything but it's something. It will be more important to me down the road but it's still something I'm very proud of. I was a little nervous but (Wurtzman and I) played well and we got the job done.
"[In singles] I knew I had a tough match. He's just a great player. Down a set and 3-0 I stayed positive and hung in there. In my match against Texas A&M I wasn't positive. I put way too much pressure on myself and I didn't play well. Tonight I was able to come through. Even though I'm ranked (21) I had nothing to lose and I used that to my advantage."
"That was one of the best matches I've ever seen him play, if not the best," head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "If you asked me to come up with something he didn't do well, I couldn't. Down a set and 3-0 he didn't give up on himself. He kept fighting and found a way to win this match. That was really tremendous."
Overholser becomes the first Gator to beat the nation's top-ranked player since Jeff Morrison defeated top-ranked James Blake of Harvard, 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-4 on May 30, 1999 to win the NCAA Championship.
Florida won two of the three doubles matches to take the match-opening point. After splitting at No. 3 and No. 1, UF clinched the point at No. 2 when Olivier Levant and Behrmann took down Magnus Kullenberg and Eduardo Pacheco of UA, 8-6, with Levant finishing off the Razorback duo with an ace at match point.
UA evened the score in singles when Aleksey Bubis won at No. 5, 6-3, 6-1 over Ross Greenstein. The Gators took a 3-1 advantage after wins by Levant and Wurtzman, who converted the first of a triple match point to remain undefeated in dual match singles play on the year. Wurtzman trailed 5-0 in the first set but won nine straight games en route to his 7-5, 6-2 win. Oggie Kolev brought the Razorbacks back to a 3-2 deficit with a win at No. 4 but Behrmann would wrap things up for the Gators with his thrilling 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) win. Overholser's win over Johansson concluded play and accounted for the 5-2 final.
The Gators will head to North Carolina this weekend to face No. 58 Wake Forest on Friday, March 2 and No. 3 Duke on Sunday, March 4. The Blue Devils will be looking for some revenge after the Gators eliminated them from last year's NCAA Championship in the quarterfinal round.
Doubles
No. 1 Nathan Overholser/Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) d. Oskar Johansson/Henrik Tofft (UA), 8-4
No. 2 Olivier Levant/Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Magnus Kullenberg/Eduardo Pacheco (UA), 8-6
No. 3 Oggie Kolev/Aleksey Bubis (UA) d. Ross Greenstein/Troy Hahn (UF), 8-5
Singles
No. 1 #21 Nathan Overholser (UF) d. #1 Oskar Johansson (UA), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
No. 2 #77 Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) d. Henrik Tofft (UA), 7-5, 6-2
No. 3 #46 Olivier Levant (UF) d. Magnus Kullenberg (UA), 6-2, 6-3
No. 4 Oggie Kolev (UA) d. Troy Hahn (UF), 6-1, 2-6, 6-2
No. 5 Alesksey Bubis (UA) d. Ross Greenstein (UF), 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Eduardo Pacheco (UA), 6-4, 7-6 (2)
