Florida Gators
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MISSISSIPPI STATE
MTen Posts Second Top 15 Upset In Four Days
Monday, March 4, 2002 | Men's Tennis
"Matt has been really sick and our trainers and our doctors had to work hard just to get him on the court," said UF head coach Andy Jackson who won his debut match against the team he coached from 1989-2001. "It's great to see him come though against a top 15 team with everything on the line. I can't say enough about it."
The singles results saw the match score see-saw back-and-forth and eventually end up tied 3-3 as only Behrmann and Jerome LeBelicard of MSU remained on the courts at No. 5. Behrmann, who missed Friday’s match against Ole Miss due to illness, won a first set (which saw no service breaks) in a tiebreaker, 7-6 (2). In the second set, Behrmann produced the match’s first break to take a 3-2 edge. Back on serve, Behrmann held his own and would roll to the 7-6 (2), 6-3 final.
"I've just got to give credit to coach Jackson and (assistant) coach (Michael) Hegarty for getting us all ready to play," Behrmann said. "He had confidence in us and he made is believe that we could do this. All that hard work in the fall and in practice has paid off."
UF won the doubles point to open the match for the sixth time in the team's eight matches this year. Twin 8-4 wins by the team of Olivier Levant and Eleazar Magallan at No. 2 plus Behrmann and Troy Hahn at No. 3 gave UF the point with the Behrmann/Hahn victory proving to be the clincher.
Once singles play began, MSU quickly evened the score as Aymeric Henou cooled down UF’s red-hit Trey Johnson with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles that lasted just 1:02. Olivier Levant gave UF a brief 2-1 lead with his 6- 3, 6-0 win at No. 3 but the Bulldogs tied the match at 2-2 when seventh- ranked Romain Ambert beat Hamid Mirzadeh, 6-1, 6-4 at No. 1. The match would end up tied at 3-3 after UF’s Troy Hahn and MSU’s Rene-Charles Combette won matches one minute apart. Behrmann then secured the Gator win at No. 5.
The match had been scheduled for Sunday but rain pushed it back to Monday with temperatures falling by the match's end to 40-degrees with a wind chill of 33.
Florida returns to action on Thursday when the Gators travel to face No. 23 Arkansas.
Doubles
1) #31 Romain Ambert/Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) d. #26 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 9-8 (6)
2) #18 Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Max Fomine/Aymeric Henou (MSU), 8-4
3) Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) d. Luiz Carvalho/Jerome LeBelicard (MSU), 8-4
Singles
1) #7 Romain Ambert (MSU) d. #102 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-1, 6-4
2) Rene-Charles Combette (MSU) d. #47 Eleazar Magallan (UF), 7-5, 6-1
3) Olivier Levant (UF) d. #127 David Ruiz (MSU), 6-3, 6-0
4) Troy Hahn (UF) d. Luiz Carvalho (MSU), 6-3, 6-3
5) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Jerome LeBelicard (MSU), 7-6 (2), 6-3
6) Aymeric Henou (MSU) d. Trey Johnson (UF), 6-1, 6-2
