Florida Gators
Alabama
Men's Tennis Gets 6-1 Win Over Alabama
Sunday, March 21, 2004 | Men's Tennis
The ninth-ranked Florida men's tennis kept things going in SEC play as the Gators defeated No. 40 Alabama, 6-1, on Sunday afternoon in Gainesville. With the win, UF improved to 10-3 overall and won their third straight league contest in moving to 3-1. Alabama fell to 6-7 overall and 1-3 in conference play.
"I thought we played hard on Friday (vs. Auburn) and even better today," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "We are improving each match. If we were not we would have lost these last two matches. Everyone is healthy and good to go now. We are looking forward to playing No. 1 Illinois on Tuesday evening."
Sunday's match was a meeting between UF head coach Andy Jackson and the Crimson Tide's Billy Pate. Jackson, who served as the head coach at Mississippi State prior to coming to Gainesville, mentored Pate who spent his collegiate playing days in Starkville, MS.
Florida grabbed the doubles point, which came down to court number two. UF's Hamid Mirzadeh and Chris Brandi took an 8-5 win over Stephen Mitchell and Mike Green. The match was tied at five before the UF duo took over winning all of the next three games. Alabama's R.J. Murray and Jospeh Jung forced the issue as they used the same score to defeat Florida's Janne Holmia and Martin Stiegwardt at the bottom of the lineup. UF's Vladimir Obradovic and Trey Johnson raced out to a 5-1 lead on court two before Chris Gostek and Eric Molnar came back to get to within 6-5. Johnson and Obradovic won the next two games to clinch the doubles point for UF.
The singles began with Ryan Sherry using a 6-0, 6-2 margin to give Florida a 2-0 advantage with his win over Murray on court five. Sherry began the match by winning eight straight games before Murray got on the board.
Obradovic made it a 3-0 UF lead as he also won in straight sets against Gostek (6-4, 6-4) in making his fourth appearance on the No. 2 court this season. UF needed a win in only one other match to clinch the win. Stiegwardt provided the clincher with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory on court six against Green.
Brandi added to the Florida point column as took control of the third set on court four against Molnar. Brandi cruised in the first set 6-3, before giving up the second 7-5. He returned to form in the deciding set as he won 6-1.
Jung got Alabama on the board with a straight set 7-5, 7-5 win over Tell on court three. However, Mirzadeh brought things to 6-1 with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 over Mitchell at the top of the lineup. The victory was Mirzadeh's second straight over a ranked opponent and third such of the dual match year.
UF will host top-ranked Illinois on Tuesday, March 23 at 5 p.m. A season ago, UF fell to the Illini twice as the Gators dropped a 7-0 regular season match in Champaign, Ill. The two programs met again in the finals of the 2003 ITA National Team Indoors in Louisville, KY. UF was defeated 4-2 in the indoor national title match last year.
Florida Men's Tennis vs. Alabama
Friday, March 19, 2004
Doubles:
1. Mirzadeh/Brandi (UF) def. Mitchell/Green (BAMA), 8-5
2. Obradovic/Johnson (UF) def. Gostek/Molnar (BAMA), 8-5
3. Murray/Jung (BAMA) def. Holmia/Stiegwardt (UF), 8-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles:
Order of finish: 5, 2, 6, 4, 3, 1
