Men's Tennis Swept By No. 3 Georgia

Friday, April 13

Gainesville, FL

4:00 PM

Florida Gators

Georgia

Men's Tennis Swept By No. 3 Georgia

Saturday, April 14, 2001 | Men's Tennis

Senior Nathan Overholser, in his final home match, combined with Jeremy Wurtzman for an upset win over the nation's fifth ranked doubles team, but that was the lone highlight for the Florida men's tennis team in a 7-0 loss to No. 3 Georgia on Friday evening at UF's Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The loss drops UF to 9-14 overall, 3-7 in SEC play while the Bulldogs improve to 19-1 overall and wrap up their SEC slate a perfect 11-0. The loss snaps a three-match win streak by UF over the rival Bulldogs.

"I told the guys that we are very close to being able to beat a team like that," UF head coach Ian Duvenhage said. "At critical stages they just made better decisions than us strategically. They chose the right shots. We can't be taking so many ill-advised risks at the wrong time of matches. We had too many double faults. They played with more discipline."

The 8-6 win by Overholser and Wurtzman, ranked 40th in the nation, over fifth-ranked Matias Boaker and Travis Parrott is the highest ranked UF doubles win this year and UF's first win over a ranked doubles team during the dual match season. The Bulldogs had won the No. 3 match prior to the conclusion of the top doubles match. The No. 2 match would be the doubles point clincher. Trailing 7-6, Matt Behrmann held serve for Florida to even the score at 7-7. Trailing 8-7 though the Gators saved three match points before Olivier Levant double faulted on the fourth, giving UGA a 9-7 win.

Singles play opened with two quick wins that put UGA up 3-0. Overholser, still battling a pair of injuries that kept him out for most of March, lost by a 6-3, 6-2 score to Bo Hodge at No. 1. Minutes later, Lesley Joseph completed a 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 4 over Florida's Troy Hahn. UGA clinched the match at No. 5 where Behrmann pushed the first of a double match point for Brandon Wagner long, unforced.

After dropping the first set 6-0, freshman Trey Johnson fought Nicolas Boeker at No. 6 into a third set but the Gator lost, 6-0, 2-6, 6-4, saving three match points before losing the fourth in a long rally. A 2:05 match at No. 2 saw Matias Boeker win over Jeremy Wurtzman in a pair of tiebreakers. The second breaker, forced by Boeker, saw Wurtzman serving up 6-5 and 8-7 and without serve at 7-6 but all three times the Bulldog would save set point. Serving for the match for the first time up 9-8, Boeker delivered an ace for a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (8) win. Play concluded with Parrott defeating Levant, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3 in a entertaining match that also ended on its fourth match point, sent long by Levant attempting a difficult return shot.

The Gators return to action on Sunday when they travel to Knoxville to face No. 7 Tennessee at 2:00 pm in both team's regular season finale. Florida will then open play on Thursday, April 19 in the SEC Tournament in Lexington, Ky. with the Gators' opponent and match time yet to be determined.

Doubles
No. 1 #40 Nathan Overholser/Jeremy Wurtzman (UF) d. #5 Matias Boeker/Travis Parrott (UGA), 8-6
No. 2 Bo Hodge/Brandon Wagner (UGA) d. Matt Behrmann/Olivier Levant (UF), 9-7
No. 3 Chad Carlson/Nicolas Boeker (UGA) d. Troy Hahn/Ross Greenstein (UF), 8-5
Singles
No. 1 #5 Bo Hodge (UGA) d. #25 Nathan Overholser (UF), 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 #3 Matias Boeker (UGA) d. #41 Jeremy Wurtzman (UF), 7-6 (2), 7-6 (8)
No. 3 #45 Travis Parrott (UGA) d. #89 Olivier Levant (UF), 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-3
No. 4 #27 Lesley Joseph (UGA) d. Troy Hahn (UF), 6-2, 6-3
No. 5 #42 Brandon Wagner (UGA) d. Matt Behrmann (UF), 6-4, 7-5
No. 6 Nicolas Boeker (UGA) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-0, 2-6, 6-4