Florida Gators
FLORIDA STATE
No. 8 Men's Tennis Defeats Seminoles, 5-2
Saturday, March 23, 2002 | Men's Tennis
"I'm excited about it, not only because we beat our rival but also because we beat quality team today," UF head coach Andy Jackson said.
The match opened with Florida sweeping the three doubles matches to win the point, an advantage Florida has gained in 10 of its 13 outings this year. Behrmann and Troy Hahn needed just 34 minutes to post their 8-2 win at No. 2 for UF. The Gators clinched the point at No. 1 behind Chris McDonald and Hamid Mirzadeh. Tied 5-5, UF produced the first service break of the match when Mirzadeh fired a strong service return down the line for a winner. McDonald held his serve on four straight points to put UF up 7-5 en route to the 8-6 win. The sweep was completed in fine fashion at No. 3 where Ross Greenstein and Eleazar Magallan saved a pair of match points down 7-6 and rallied for a 9-7 win.
UF took a 2-0 edge when Olivier Levant posted a 6-1, 7-5 win at No. 3 over Mat Cloer, taking the first set in just 19 minutes and the match in 1:02.
About 40 minutes later, three matches ended nearly simultaneously and when the dust settled UF had clinched victory. Hahn gave UF a 3-0 lead with a 6- 1, 0-6, 6-3 win at No. 4. Hahn rallied from a rough second set to control the third, taking command with a service break at 3-2 for a 4-2 lead. The win was Hahn’s six in seven matches after starting the year 3-10. Gustav Bucht got FSU on the board as he held off a hard-charging Trey Johnson, 6- 3, 7-6 (7) at No. 6. Bucht led 5-3 in the second but Johnson stormed back for a 6-5 lead before Bucht held serve to force a tiebreaker. The Seminole senior would win the tiebreaker on his third match point. Just a minute later though Behrmann would seal the Gators’ win. After splitting the first two sets 6-3 and 1-6, Behrmann and Alex Herrera stood tied 3-3 in the third but three straight game wins by Behrmann, capped by a back- handed drop shot at the net on match point, gave UF its magic fourth point.
With the team victory sealed, UF picked up a point at No. 2 when Romain Jurd retired as he trailed Eleazar Magallan 6-7 (5), 6-0, 3-0. Play concluded with No. 49 Xavier Luscan of Florida State rallying for a solid 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Mirzadeh at No. 1 singles.
Florida returns to action on Monday when the Gators host Georgia State at 4:00 pm.
Doubles
1) #37 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) d. #58 Rodrigo Laub/Xavier Luscan (FSU), 8-6
2) Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) d. Alex Herrera/Jarrod Owen (FSU), 8-2
3) Ross Greensteon/Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Gustav Bucht/Romain Jurd (FSU), 9-7
Singles
1) #49 Xavier Luscan (FSU) d. #1112 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
2) #51 Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Romain Jurd (FSU), 6-7 (5), 6-0, 3-0 ret.
3) Olivier Levant (UF) d. Mat Cloer (FSU), 6-1, 7-5
4) Troy Hahn (UF) d. Chip Webb (FSU), 6-1, 0-6, 6-3
5) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Alex Herrera (FSU), 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
6) Gustav Bucht (FSU) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-3, 7-6 (7)
