Florida Gators
Ole Miss
Men's Tennis Tested At Ole Miss
Saturday, March 1, 2003 | Men's Tennis
The second-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team stepped into Southeastern Conference play on Friday afternoon, and also stepped into a battle with eighth-ranked Ole Miss as the Gators edged the Rebels, 4-3. With the win, UF improved its record to 10-2 on the season and went to 1-0 in SEC play, while Mississippi fell to 6-3 and 0-1 in the conference.
"I believe this was our most hard fought and difficult victory maybe our biggest," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "Usually when we win close ones more things go our way than not. This time it wasn't like that though and I lot of things didn't go our way. We were able to overcome that, and we are really proud."
The two teams battled for the doubles point with Florida's Troy Hahn and Matt Behrmann (ranked 32nd) defeating Mississippi's Patrick Chucri and Karim Alayli at the third position, 8-4. Ole Miss evened it up though when Catalin Gard and Paul Ciorascu defeated UF's 41st-ranked Olivier Levant and Eleazar Magallan, 9-7. With the point in reach for either school, UF's Hamid Mirzadeh and Chris McDonald overtook eighth-ranked Alex Hartman and Claes Lindholm, 9-8 (5). The victory was the second for the UF duo in as many matches over a top-ten ranked tandem. In their last outing, Mirzadeh and McDonald defeated the nation's second-ranked team (Illinois' Amer Delic and Michael Calkins, 8-6). The loss was the first dual match loss of the season for Hartman and Lindholm.
Freshman Janne Holmia would push the lead to 2-0 with his win at No. 2 over 33rd-ranked Catalin Gard (6-2, 6-2). Ole Miss bounced back though to even things up at two each. The struggle that started on the doubles court for Mirzadeh (92nd) and Hartman (16th) carried over to the number one singles court where Mirzadeh put UF within one point of a victory with his 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3 showing. Behrmann clinched the match on court five for the Gators as he defeated 121st-ranked Patrick Chucri, 7-5, 6-3. Florida's Eleazar Magallan and Alayli were still playing at the six position when UF clinched and the match was suspended with Magallan trailing 7-5, 2-1.
The UF men's tennis team will continue its SEC slate and remain in Mississippi as the Gators take on Mississippi State on Sunday, March 2 at 1 p.m. in Starkville. UF head coach Andy Jackson started his head coaching career at MSU as the head women's coach in 1984. In 1989, Jackson switched over to work with the Bulldog's men's team where he remained until the completion of the 2001 season before coming to Gainesville. Jackson owns a 1-0 record against his former team as he led UF to a 4-3 victory over the 13th-ranked Bulldogs in Gainesville a season ago.
NCAA Men's Tennis
Florida 4, Ole Miss 3
Doubles
No. 1 Hamid Mirzadeh/Chris McDonald (UF) def. #8 Alex Hartman/Claes Lindholm (UM), 9-8 (5)
No. 2 Catalin Gard/Paul Ciorascu (UM) def. #41 Olivier Levant/Eleazar Magallan (UF), 9-7
No. 3 #32 Matt Behrmann/Troy Hahn (UF) def. Patrick Chucri/Karim Alayli (UM), 8-4
Singles
No. 1 #92 Hamid Mirzadeh (92) (UF) def. #16 Alex Hartman (UM), 6-3, 6-7 (2), 6-3
No. 2 #29 Janne Holmia (UF) def. #33 Catalin Gard (UM), 6-2, 6-2
No. 3 #118 Claes Lindholm (UM) def. Troy Hahn (UF) 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 #28 Paul Ciorascu (UM) def. #110 Olivier Levant (UF), 6-0, 6-0
No. 5 Matt Behrmann (UF) def. # 121 Patrick Chucri (UM) 7-5, 6-3
No. 6 Karim Alayli (UM) def. Eleazar Magallan (UF) vs. 7-5, 2-1
Numbers preceding names indicate current national rankings
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