Florida Gators
DUKE
#15 Men's Tennis Bedevils #11 Duke, 4-3
Saturday, April 13, 2002 | Men's Tennis
"That was a big-time battle," UF head coach Andy Jackson said. "That's a big win for us because it stops us from losing four straight and it came against a very good team. The win was huge too because it keeps us in contention to host (a NCAA regional). Troy has a lot of character and will power and that was the difference."
UF captured doubles play to open the match. The sides split the No. 2 and No. 3 matches, leaving a pair of top 30 teams to settle matters at No. 1. The Gators came out on top as No. 29 Chris McDonald and Hamid Mirzadeh capped a 8-5 win over No. 23 Phillip King and Michael Yani with a Mirzadeh ace on match point.
UF quickly took a 3-0 advantage when singles play opened with a pair of lopsided wins. Olivier Levant was a 6-2, 6-2 winner at No. 2 in 1:04 while Matt Behrmann defeated Yorke Allen, 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 for his eighth consecutive win. The four remaining matches were all tight and Duke would pull out the next three to tie the score.
At No. 6 Peter Shults posted a 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 win over Ross Greenstein, rallying back from a 3-0 third set deficit for the win in his second service for the match. The No. 1 match finished next as King needed four match points before finally completing a 7-6 (1), 6-2, 6-2 win over Mirzadeh.
The two remaining matches, which would eventually conclude just 20 seconds apart, both saw the Blue Devils lead and threaten to complete the largest come-back victory possible in collegiate tennis. Duke tied the match at 3- 3 with the No. 2 match, a 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 win for Yani over Eleazar Magallan. In a match that featured precious few service breaks, Yani gained an invaluable one when leading 5-4 in the third set to cap the match, leaving just Troy Hahn and Joel Spicher on the courts.
Hahn took the first set, 6-4, and Spicher the second, 6-3. Tied 4-4 in the third things got interesting when Spicher gained the set's first service break. Spicher went up 40-15 on his service but Hahn won back both match points, the second, unforced, on a failed serve-and-volley attempt that caught the net. Hahn would save three match points in all before breaking back to tie the set at 5-5. Both held their services as Spicher forced a tiebreaker. Spicher took the opening point but Hahn ran off the next five and would eventually claim the breaker 7-2, and with it the match.
Florida will wrap up its regular season on Sunday when the Gators host No. 24 South Carolina at noon. The SEC Championships will be played April 18- 21 at Tennessee.
Doubles
1) #29 Chris McDonald/Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) d. #23 Phillip King/Michael Yani (DU), 8-6
2) Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF) d. Peter Shults/Joel Spicher (DU), 8-2
3) Alex Bose/Jason Zimmerman (DU) d. Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF), 8-6
Singles
1) #11 Phillip King (DU) d. #122 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-7 (1), 6-2, 6-2
2) #58 Michael Yani (DU) d. #74 Eleazar Magallan (UF), 7-5, 5-7, 6-4
3) Olivier Levant (UF) d. #123 Jason Zimmerman (DU), 6-2, 6-2
4) Troy Hahn (UF) d. Joel Spicher (DU), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2)
5) Matt Behrmann (UF) d. Yorke Allen (DU), 6-4, 6-1
6) Peter Shults (DU) d. Ross Greenstein (UF), 3-6, 6-0, 5-7
