Florida Gators
Florida State
UF Men's Tennis Outlasts FSU, 4-3
Sunday, January 25, 2004 | Men's Tennis
The third-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team battled back to take a 4-3 victory over No. 32 Florida State on Sunday afternoon in front of a crowd of 325 fans at the Ring Tennis Complex in Gainesville, Fla. With the win, the Gators improved to 2-0 on the season, while the Seminoles fell to 1-2.
"I thought that was a match that we were fortunate enough to win," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "I thought we deserved to win it, not to mean that Florida State didn't. We knew we were struggling in the doubles, so to lose the point did not surprise us. There were singles matches that did surprise me a little, but other guys stepped up for us."
The doubles point came down to the final court after Florida State took the match on court one where Jeff Groslimond and Chris Westerhof defeated Florida's Chris Brandi and Hamid Mirzadeh, 8-5. UF's Janne Holmia and Vladimir Obradovic forced the decisive match on court three as the Gator duo defeated FSU's Mat Cloer and Jonathas Sucupira, 8-5. Florida's Trey Johnson and Ryan Sherry trailed 7-5 on court three before battling back to even things at seven. From there, Florida State's Chip Webb and Jarrod Owen took control and went on to a 9-7 win to give the Seminoles a 1-0 lead.
UF turned things around quickly to take a 3-1 lead with wins on courts one, three and six in the singles. Vladimir Obradovic took a straight set 6-1, 6-1, win over Florida State's Chip Webb on court three. At the bottom of the lineup Chris Brandi also took a straight set win over Jarrod Owen (6-2, 6-2). On court one Hamid Mirzadeh outlasted Mat Cloer 7-6 (4), 6-2 after falling behind 4-2 in the first set tiebreak to leave the Gators a point away from clinching the match. Florida State's Jonathas Sucupira got the Seminoles back to within 3-2 with a win over Florida's ninth-ranked Janne Holmia on the second court (6-4, 6-3). With two matches remaining in play, UF owned a lead in only one where Ryan Sherry was up 1-0 in the third set against Florida State's Chris Westerhof on court five. Their match would decide the outcome after FSU's Jeff Groslimond defeated Florida's Stefan Tell 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to bring the score to three each. Sherry trailed in the final set 4-3; however, Sherry went on to win the set 7-6 (5) to give Florida the victory.
The Gators will host their third of four straight home matches on Thursday, Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. A season ago, UF met UCF in the season opener where the Gators blanked the Golden Knights, 7-0.
Florida Men's Tennis vs. Florida State
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Singles
Hamid Mirzadeh (UF) vs. Mat Cloer (FSU), 7-6 (4), 6-2
Jonathas Sucupira (FSU) d. Janne Holmia (UF), 6-4, 6-3
Vladimir Obradovic (UF) d. Chip Webb (FSU), 6-1, 6-1
Jeff Groslimond (FSU) d. Stefan Tell (UF), 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
Ryan Sherry (UF) vs.Chris Westerhof (FSU), 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5)
Chris Brandi (UF) d. Jarrod Owen (FSU), 6-2, 6-2
Doubles
Groslimond/Westerhof (FSU) d. Mirzadeh/Brandi (UF), 8-5
Obradovic/Holmia (UF) d. Sucupira/Cloer (FSU), 8-5
Webb/Owen (FSU) d. Johnson/Sherry (UF) vs. 9-7
