A spirited rally by the No. 9 University of Florida men's tennis team fell short as the Gators dropped a 4-3 decision to No. 23 Auburn on Sunday afternoon at UF's Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. Florida, which loses for the first time in its nine home matches so far this season, drops to 13-3 overall and 6-2 in SEC action. The Tigers improve to 11-5 and 5-3 in conference play.
Auburn has excelled this year in doubles play, posting a 38-7 mark during dual season, including today, and this match would be no exception as Florida lost the doubles point for only the fourth time in 16 matches this year. The Gators took the first match when Matt Behrmann and Troy Hahn posted a 8-5 win at No. 3, but the Tigers evened things up moments later with a win of their own at No. 2 in the closest of the three contests. Behrmann and Hahn improved to 9-2 on the year as a doubles team with their win at No. 3. The match at No. 1 would go comfortably to the Tigers by an 8-5 score, giving Auburn the match-opening point. AU took a 3-0 lead and cruised from there.
"Winning the doubles wads a huge factor in this match," UF head coach Andy Jackson said. "Auburn is one of the elite teams. They're upset at being ranked at No. 23 and they should be. They are better in doubles by a bit and it was a huge factor in this match. But the biggest factor is that Auburn is an elite team regardless of their ranking and they were just too good for us today."
Auburn took a 3-0 advantage as singles play commenced with wins at the top two positions as Andrew Colombo and Rameez Junaid needed just 57 minutes and 1:02 respectively for their wins. Colombo was a 6-1, 6-3 winner over Eleazar Magallan at No. 2 and Juniad beat Hamid Mirzadeh, 6-1, 6-1 at No. 1. Junaid's win also left Florida needing to win each of the four remaining matches to take the overall victory.
Ross Greenstein won the first of those matches, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 over Mark Van Elden. Greenstein needed to serve for the first set twice but converted on the second go-around. In the final set, Greenstein served for the set leading 5-4 but fell behind love-40. The unfazed sophomore from Minnetonka, Minnesota saved all three break points and won the next two to complete his 6-4, 6-4 win at get the Gators on the board.
Behrmann got the Gators their second win of the day at No. 6 singles when he capped his 6-3, 6-3 win over Estevam Strecker with a powerful winner slammed into the court from the net. The win is Behrmann's 10th dual match singles win and his 20th of the year overall. In his first two years at UF combined, Behrmann won nine singles dual matches and 20 overall.
Auburn stopped the bleeding at 3-2 though when Tiago Ruffoni posted a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 3 singles over Olivier Levant. Ruffoni immediately took control of the third set by breaking serve on the first game and put the match out of reach by breaking serve again while up 4-2. A Levant return into the net gave Ruffoni, and the Tigers, their match point.
Play concluded with a win at No. 4 for the Gators by Hahn. After splitting the first two sets neither player had his service broken in the third and a tiebreaker ensued. Hahn won the first five points of the breaker and converted on the first or a rare quintuple match point for a 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (1) win.
Florida returns to action on Friday when the Gators travel to Knoxville, site of the 2002 SEC Championships to face No. 13 Tennessee. The trip will also bring UF to Athens, Ga. on Sunday for a match against No. 1 Georgia, the defending national champion.
Doubles
1) #30 Rameez Junaid/Tiago Ruffoni (AU) d. #37 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 8-5
2) #25 Andrew Colombo/Mark Kovacs (AU) d. #45 Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF), 9-7
3) Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) d. Andre Boz/Estevam Strecker (AU), 8-5
Singles
1) #19 Rameez Junaid (AU) d. #111 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-1, 6-1
2) #82 Andrew Colombo (AU) d. #51 Eleazar Magallan (UF), 6-1, 6-3
3) #34 Tiago Ruffoni (AU) d. Olivier Levant (UF), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2
4) Troy Hahn (UF) d. Mark Kovacs (AU), 6-0, 3-6, 7-6 (1)
5) Ross Greenstein (UF) d. Mark Van Elden (AU), 6-4, 6-4
6) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Estevam Strecker (AU), 6-3, 6-3
