Florida Gators
GEORGIA STATE
No. 8 Men's Tennis Beats Georgia State, 4-3
Tuesday, March 26, 2002 | Men's Tennis
"It was good for us to get a win with this lineup," UF head coach Andy Jackson said of the match. "It certainly would have been different if we had lost though. Georgia State has a quality team and we knew that going in so we weren't surprised at all that it was a close match. I think the tightness helped us. We haven't played anything but close matches this year so we're used to them."
In doubles, Jackson rested his No. 1 doubles team, used a completely new No. 2 team and played a No. 3 team for the first time since Jan. 26 but saw UF earn a comfortable sweep. Ross Greenstein and Ryan Sherry were first off the courts with a 8-4 win at No. 3. Matt Behrmann and Troy Hahn secured the point for Florida with a 8-2 win at No. 1, moving the tandem to 8-2 in dual matches this year in their debut at No. 1. Johnson and Olivier Levant completed the sweep with a 8-4 win at No. 2.
Prior to the start of singles, Jackson pulled his top two players in Hamid Mirzadeh and Eleazar Magallan, by rule pushing the No. 3-6 players up two spots each. The lower two spots were filled by Johnson and Sherry. As a result of the shifts, Levant made only his second career appearance at No. 1 singles, Greenstein played at No. 3 after never having played above No. 5 in his career and Sherry would make his collegiate singles debut in a dual match. The plan worked though as Florida improved to 7-0 at home this year.
The Panthers drew first blood in singles as Matias Ormaza posted a speedy 6-2, 6-4 win at No. 1 singles over Levant. GSU took a 2-1 lead when Miha Lisac completed his 6-2, 6-1 win over herry. It would be all Gators from there though. UF tied the match at 2-2 with a 6-2, 7-5 win by Greenstein at No. 3. Just one minute later though the rains would come, giving the teams an hour and 49 minutes to rest up for the exciting conclusion of the match.
Shortly after the rain, Matt Behrmann gave UF a 3-1 advantage in unconventional fashion. Behrmann won the first set 6-3 and held serve to force a second set tiebreaker. Leading 3-1 in the tiebreaker, Behrmann's shot down the line narrowly fell in bounds but GSU's Luka Bernard called it out. Bernard was overruled by the chair umpire and being his fourth overruling of the match, Bernard was assessed a game penalty. The penalty gave Behrmann the tiebreaker and thus the match.
Johnson sealed UF's win at No. 5. Johnson led 5-3 in the second set after winning the first but fell into a funk, eventually having to break serve to force a tiebreaker. Johnson rolled through the breaker though for his team-high 21st win of the year, 7-5, 7-6 (2), taking match point when Nicolas Lupica of GSU sent a return into the net for an unforced error after a long rally. Play concluded with Troy Hahn dropping a 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-6 (5) match at No. 2 to Pablo Perez-Gras.
Florida returns to action on Friday when the Gators host No. 21 Alabama at 4:00 pm.
Doubles
1) Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) d. Luka Bernard/Pablo Perez-Gras (GSU), 8- 2
2) Trey Johnson/Olivier Levant (UF) d. Miha Lisac/Matias Ormaza (GSU), 8- 4
3) Ross Greenstein/Ryan Sherry (UF) d. Albano Franco/Nicolas Lupica (GSU), 8-4
Singles
1) Matias Ormaza (GSU) d. Olivier Levant (UF), 6-2, 6-4
2) Pablo Perez-Gras (GSU) d. Troy Hahn (UF), 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-6 (5)
3) Ross Greenstein (UF) d. Albano Franco (GSU), 6-2, 7-5
4) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Luka Bernard (GSU), 6-3, 7-6
5) Trey Johnson (UF) d. Nicolas Lupica (GSU), 7-5, 7-6 (2)
6) Miha Lisac (GSU) d. Ryan Sherry (UF), 6-2, 6-1
