Florida Gators
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Mississippi State
Men's Tennis Defeats Mississippi State, 6-1
Saturday, April 3, 2004 | Men's Tennis
The University of Florida's 13th-ranked men's tennis team stopped its three-match losing skid as the Gators defeated No. 31 Mississippi State, 6-1, Friday evening in Gainesville. With the win, UF improved to 11-6 on the season and 4-3 in the SEC. Mississippi State lost its fifth-straight match in falling to 7-8 overall and 2-5 in league play. The win also kept UF head coach Andy Jackson perfect against his former team as he is 3-0 against the Bulldogs after coaching at MSU prior to UF.
Jackson came to Gainesville from Starkville where he coached the men's team from 1989-2001 after serving as MSU's women's tennis head coach from 1984-1989. In his 13 years as Mississippi State's men's head coach, Jackson compiled a 220-106 record (.675). In addition, first year UF assistant coach Jeremy Bayon joined the Gators after serving as assistant coach the last two seasons for Mississippi State. Bayon was a four-year letterman for Mississippi State from 1997-2000 where he played for Jackson.
The Gators shuffled the doubles lineup after dropping the doubles point in each of the last three outings. The changes proved to be effective as UF took a 1-0 lead with wins on the top two courts. UF's Stefan Tell and Martin Stiegwardt, who were paired on three for the second time this season, came up short in their bid to defeat MSU's Romain Ambert and Matt Armstrong as the Bulldog duo came away with an 8-5 win.
UF snapped off wins on the remaining two courts within moments of each other. Florida's Vladimir Obradovic and Janne Holmia forced the decisive match to the feature court with their 8-4 victory over Florent Girod and Romain Provenzano. The UF pair ran their record to 3-0 on the No. 2 court this year as they made their first appearance together since the Florida State match on Jan. 25. Seconds later UF clinched things when Hamid Mirzadeh and Chris Brandi took out Luiz Cavalho and Jose-Carlos Pinto, 8-5.
In the singles, UF's 17th-ranked Mirzadeh made quick work of Ambert (No. 22) on court one 6-2, 6-1 to give the Gators a 2-0 advantage. The win marked Mirzadeh's fourth in his last six outings at the top spotall of which have come against a ranked opponent. Ambert was the second highest ranked opponent Mirzadeh has defeated this season as he evened his record to 7-7 against ranked opponents this season.
Obradovic (No. T100) got the Gators to within one point of winning the match when he took a 6-3, 6-2 decision over Carvalho on court three. The win brought his team-leading singles dual match record to 13-2 on the year.
Holmia (No. 39) kept things going for the top of the order when he took a straight set 6-1, 6-1 win over Pinto on court two to clinch the match. The victory was his fourth in his last five appearances and second consecutive straight set win.
Brandi and Ryan Sherry stretched the lead to 6-0 as they outlasted their opponents in tiebreakers. Brandi did so first by taking the second set on court four over Fomine (6-2, 7-6 (8). Sherry went to a third set that used a tiebreaker format to defeat Arnaud Roussel 6-4, 4-6, 10-8.
UF returns to the courts on Sunday, April 4 when the Gators host No. 3 Ole Miss at 1 p.m. The first 150 fans will receive grilled sausage and jambalaya courtesy of Stewart's Catering.
Florida Men's Tennis vs. Mississippi State
Friday, April 02, 2004
Doubles:
Order of Finish: 3, 2, 1
Singles:
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2, 4, 6, 5
