Florida Gators
NCAA Singles & Doubles Day 2
Men's Tennis Doubles Team Loses in NCAA 1st Round
Friday, May 25, 2001 | Men's Tennis
Levant and Overholser, ranked No. 17 together, lost to fourth-seeded Amer Delic and Graydon Oliver of Illinois 6-4, 7-6, the nation's second-ranked team by the ITA. The Gator pair trailed 6-5 in the second set and held serve to force the tiebreaker but were felled by the Fighting Illini tandem.
It was the fourth NCAA Doubles field of Overholser's career as he joins Merklein (1991-94) as the only Gators ever to participate in the NCAA Doubles Championship all four years of their collegiate careers. Overholser's 93 career doubles wins stands as the school record in that category. Overholser and Levant posted a 9-5 doubles record together this year and captured the ITA All-American Doubles Championship this past October 15. It was the first grand slam event doubles title for the Gators since David Blair and Merklein won the 1993 NCAA Doubles Championship. Overholser and Levant were cited as the ITA's National Doubles Team of the Month for October for their win.
Overholser was the team's lone singles entrant and made his second career appearance in the field of 64 but he lost by a 6-2, 6-1 score to Brian Vahaly of Virginia in Thursday afternoon's first round. Florida completed its 2001 campaign with a 9-17 record and a 3-8 mark in SEC play. The Gators were selected for the NCAA team field for the 11th straight year and received a No. 2 seed for their NCAA Regional at Stanford but were defeated there by No. 3 regional seed Oklahoma State, 4-1. UF entered the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 31 in the nation by the ITA.
NCAA Men's Tennis Doubles Championship Score Amer Delic/Graydon Oliver (Ill.) d. Olivier Levant/Nathan Overholser (UF), 6-4, 7-6
