Florida Gators
ALABAMA
#9 Men's Tennis Beats Alabama, 5-2
Saturday, March 30, 2002 | Men's Tennis
"Even though some out there don't feel like we're in the SEC Championship race, we're 6-1 and still it in," UF head coach Andy Jackson said. "It was important to win tonight. There's a mindset that you don't want to get into where you don’t want a team to start dominating you. Tonight's match was close. It could have gone either way but we got over the hump and I feel good about that."
Florida's No. 1 doubles team of Chris McDonald and Hamid Mirzadeh, ranked 37th in the nation, keyed the Gators’ doubles point win to open the match. After UF secured a lopsided match at No. 2 and Alabama did likewise at No. 3, the decisive No. 1 match stood tied at 5-5. Neither team had broken service in the match as the teams stood at 7-7. With McDonald serving, Alabama took a 15-40 advantage but the Gators saved both break points and held their service. Up 8-7, UF produced the match's only service break at the ideal juncture as a tough McDonald volley at the net forced a Tide return into the net for match point and a 9-7 Gator win. UF has now claimed the doubles point in 12 of its 15 matches this year and not surprisingly has gone on to win 11 of those 12 matches.
Alabama quickly evened the score at 1-1 when singles play began as Maxim Belski took down Mirzadeh, 6-3, 6-1 at No. 1. UF won the next three matches off the courts though to earn the team win. Eleazar Magallan beat Stephen Mitchell, 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2, taking match point when a well-placed drop shot forced Mitchell to send his return attempt into the net. The Gators took a 3-1 lead at No. 5 where Matt Behrmann battled hard to capture a 7-6 (1), 6-4 win over Chris McRae.
Levant would wrap up the match for Florida with his 7-6 (4), 6-0 win at No. 3 over No. 90 Chris Gostek. After battling through a first set that went to a tiebreaker, Levant gained confidence and rolled through the second set, putting away a winner from the net on match point. It is Levant’s team-high 11th dual match singles win of the year and the third straight time he has posted a win when facing a ranked opponent.
Play concluded with Alabama capturing the match at No. 6 behind Christian Brodersen’s solid play in a second set tiebreaker and Florida’s Troy Hahn winning in three sets at No. 4 to account for the 5-2 final score.
Florida returns to action on Sunday when the Gators host No. 23 Auburn at 1:00 pm.
Doubles
1) #37 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) d. Chris Gostek/Stephen Mitchell (UA), 9-7
2) #45 Olivier Levant/eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Maxim Belski/Brad Friedman (UA), 8-4
3) Nicolas-John Beuque/William Boyles (UA) d. Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF), 8-3
Singles
1) #52 Maxim Belski (UA) d. #111 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-3, 6-1
2) #51 Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Stephen Micthell (UA), 6-3, 7-5
3) Olivier Levant (UF) d. #90 Michael Gostek (UA), 7-6 (4), 6-0
4) Troy Hahn (UF) d. Nicolas-John Beuque (UA), 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3
5) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Chris McRae (UA), 7-6 (1), 6-4
6) Christian Brodersen (UA) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
