Men's Tennis Halts Skid With Win Over Vanderbilt
Thursday, March 8, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Florida played the match without 46th ranked junior Olivier Levant (Paris, France) and did not have freshman Ross Greenstein (Minnetonka, Minn.) available for singles but managed to snap a two-match losing skid.
"We didn't make a distinction between non-conference and conference matches," head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "I think that they understand that this is the SEC. Today singles was a lot better. With Olivier out in both singles and doubles and without Ross in singles we could have easily lost this match. I'm glad that we eked it out. It wasn't pretty but we still got it done."
Doubles play saw the teams quickly split the No. 1 and No. 2 matches leaving their No. 3 teams to decide the critical point. Vanderbilt's Chad Harris and Josh Tarkoff led 4-1 and 5-2 but sophomore Troy Hahn (Indianapolis, Ind.) and freshman Trey Johnson (Gainesville, Fla.) would win each of the next five straight games en route to a crucial 8-6 UF win.
Each of the first three singles matches wrapped up at about the same time and when the dust had settled the Gators held a 3-1 lead. Tarkoff rolled to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Johnson at No. 6 to tie the match at 1-1, but UF took control of the action with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. Freshman Jeremy Wurtzman (Rochester, N.Y. ) posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 2, moments before senior Nathan Overholser (Okemos, Mich.) finished off his 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 over 74th ranked Eddie Coates with a hard charge to the net and a drop-shot winner. The Commodores closed the gap to 3-2 when Chad Harris won an impressive match at No. 3, 6-4, 6-4, eventually converting on his fourth match point.
Florida would win the final two matches though, just seconds apart, to account for the 5-2 final. Behrmann clinched the win at No. 4 with a 7-6 (2), 7-5 win over Jens Fredriksen. Behrmann served for the match up 5-4 and was broken but held serve up 6-5, taking match point when Fredriksen's shot went wide after a lengthy baseline rally. Freshman West Nott (Midland, Mich.) wrapped up the scoring moments later with his 7-5, 6-3 win over Zach Dailey at No. 5.
The Gators return to action with an unusual road trip that will take them to No. 27 Auburn on Friday and then No. 55 South Carolina on Sunday.
Doubles
No. 1 Eddie Coates/Bobby Reynolds (VU) d. Nathan Overholser/Jeremy Wurtzman (UF), 8-3
No. 2 Matt Behrmann/Ross Greenstein (UF) d. Brad Hambrick/Lewis Smith (UF), 8-5
No. 3 Troy Hahn/Trey Johnson (UF) d. Chad Harris/Josh Tarkoff (VU), 8-6
Singles
No. 1 #21 Nathan Overholser (UF) d. #74 Eddie Coates (VU), 6-2, 6-2
No. 2 #77 Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) d. Bobby Reynolds (VU), 6-3, 6-4
No. 3 Chad Harris (VU) d. Troy Hahn (UF), 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Jens Fredriksen (VU), 7-6 (2), 7-5
No. 5 West Nott (UF) d. Zach Dailey (VU), 7-5, 6-3
No. 6 Josh Tarkoff (VU) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-2, 6-3