Florida Gators
Vanderbilt
Men's Tennis Slips Past Vanderbilt, 4-3
Sunday, March 16, 2003 | Men's Tennis
A match up of two SEC preseason favorites proved to be as close as figured as the second-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team held off No. 21 Vanderbilt, 4-3, on Sunday afternoon at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville. With the win, the Gators improved to 15-2 on the season 6-0 in league play, while the Commodores suffered their first loss in six matches as they fell to 10-2 overall and 2-2 in conference play.
"We felt since the beginning of the season that Vanderbilt was the team to beat in the SEC," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "I think they are severely underrated, but that will change on Wednesday with the new poll. Regardless of their ranking, we felt they were one of the favorites to win the conference so it did not surprise me that we nearly lost. I think it will be a drastically different match if we play them in the SEC or NCAA tournaments."
Both teams had been using the doubles matches to build early leads throughout the season. UF had won fourteen of sixteen coming into the match, while Vandy had not given up a doubles point in a dual match to date. Florida became the first to take the point from Vanderbilt as Janne Holmia and Eleazar Magallan defeated Jens Pilgram-Larsen and Zach Dailey on court three, 8-2. The match was the first time this season Holmia and Magallan paired on the doubles courts. Moments later, UF was up 1-0 when Florida's Matt Behrmann and Troy Hahn defeated seventh-ranked Scott Brown and Chad Harris, 8-3.
Vanderbilt second-ranked Bobby Williams was too much for UF's Hamid Mirzadeh to handle on court one as the score was evened when Williams took the match 6-2, 6-3. The Gators went back on top when Eleazar Magallan used a 6-3, 6-1 decision over Scott Brown on court five. Troy Hahn put Florida within one of the win with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Zach Dailey on court four. The last three matches were all tight and heading to the third set with UF needing a win in one. Olivier Levant went blow for blow with 72nd-ranked Matthew Lockin before landing the final punch for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win. With the issue no longer in doubt, the Commodores added a pair of points with wins from Lewis Smith over Behrmann on six with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 score and 13th-ranked Chad Harris over No. 4 Holmia (3-6, 6-2, 7-5).
Florida will step out of the SEC for its next match as the Gators travel to Durham, NC, for a 1:30 p.m. meeting with seventh-ranked Duke on Saturday, March 22.
NCAA Men's Tennis
Florida 4, Vanderbilt 3
Doubles
No. 1 #43 Bobby Reynolds/Lewis Smith (VU) def. # 13 Hamid Mirzadeh/Chris McDonald (UF), 8-4
No. 2 Troy Hahn/Matt Behrmann (UF) def. #7 Scott Brown/Chad Harris (VU), 8-3
No. 3 Janne Holmia/Eleazar Magallan (UF) def. Jens Pilgrem-Larsen/Zach Dailey (VU), 8-2
Singles
No. 1 . #2 Bobby Reynolds (VU) def. #35 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-2, 6-3
No. 2 #4 Janne Holmia (UF) def. #13 Chad Harris (VU), 3-6, 6-2, 7-5
No. 3 Olivier Levant (UF) def. #72 Matthew Lockin (VU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-4
No. 4 Troy Hahn (UF) def. Zach Dailey (VU), 6-4, 6-2
No. 5 Eleazar Magallan (UF) def. Scott Brown (VU), 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 Lewis Smith (VU) def. Matt Behrmann (UF) def. 2-6, 6-3, 6-3
Numbers preceding names indicate current national rankings
