Florida Gators
Kentucky
Florida Men?s Tennis Defeats Kentucky, 5-2
Sunday, March 13, 2005 | Men's Tennis
For the third time in the last four seasons, the seventh-ranked University of Florida opened SEC play with a 4-0 record as the Gators defeated 28th-ranked Kentucky Sunday afternoon in Gainesville, 5-2. With the victory, UF improved to 9-4 overall while the Wildcats slipped to 9-6 and 1-3 in league action.
Florida secured the doubles point in just under an hour. For the second time in as many outings, UF's Hamid Mirzadeh and Greg Ouellette defeated a ranked team as they topped 19th-ranked Jesse Witten and Tigran Martirosyan at the top of the order, 8-5. After Gators Ryan Sherry and Jordan Dolberg fell by the same score on court three, Florida was in need of a win on two to go up 1-0. Senior Vladimir Obradovic and Chris Brandi provided the victory with an 8-5 margin of their own over Kentucky's Matt Emery and Marcus Smith for their third straight win.
The Gators made it a 3-0 match with wins on courts two and three from Obradovic and Ouellette, respectively. Obradovic cruised past Emery in the first set, 6-0, before outlasting him in a tiebreaker in the second, 7-6 (4). Ouellette moved to 4-0 in league play with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Nate Emgy.
Kentucky got on the board with a win on four by Hume (No. 94), who posted a 6-1, 7-6 (4) decision over Nestor Briceno to stop the UF newcomer's four match win streak. However, Brandi provided the clincher for the Gators when he fought for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 win on court five. The win increased his dual match record to 9-2 this season, which leads the team.
With the issue no longer in doubt, Mirzadeh dropped a hard-fought match on the top court to sixth-ranked Witten. After trailing 5-3 in the third set and 6-3 in the tiebreaker, the UF senior lost his first SEC dual match this season by a margin of 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (12).
Ryan Sherry picked up a three set win of his own over Sundh to close out the match. After being defeated in the first set 6-3, Sherry won the second and third sets by scores of 7-6 (4) and 6-4.
Florida remains at home as the Gators step out of conference play by hosting 22nd-ranked TCU on Friday, March 18, at 2 p.m.
Florida vs. Kentucky
Singles
Order of Finish – 3, 2, 4, 5, 1, 6
Doubles
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2
