Florida Gators
Ole Miss
Men's Tennis Drops 5-2 Decision To No. 4 Ole Miss
Sunday, April 10, 2005 | Men's Tennis
The seventh-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team's 11-match win streak came to a close on Sunday as the Gators fell, 5-2, to No. 4 Ole Miss on Sunday afternoon in Oxford. With the loss, the Gators fell to 16-5 on the season and 9-1 in the SEC. The Rebels improved their record to 19-2 on the year and 9-1 in the conference.
Florida dropped the doubles point for the tenth time this season. After Ole Miss' 35th-ranked Catalin Gard and Eric Claesson defeated UF's 22-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh and Greg Ouellette at the top of the order, 8-1, the Gators needed wins on each of the remaining courts. Florida's Nestor Briceno and Stefan Tell forced the issue to court two as they paired to take out Ole Miss' Bram Ten Berge and Jakob Klaeson, 8-3, on court three. The UF pair made their fourth appearance on the court in a dual match and extended their record to 3-1. However, Erling Tveit and Fredrik Aarum got the point for the Rebels with an 8-2 victory against UF's Chris Brandi and Vladimir Obradovic.
UF was forced to try to come back on the singles court, which is something it had done on six occasions this year. However, UF picked up wins on only two singles courts.
Ole Miss built a 2-0 lead when Juan Pablo Di Cesare defeated No. 85 Brandi on court five (6-2, 6-1) bringing the redshirt junior to 14-4 in dual matches on the season.
Briceno (No. 124) got UF on the board with a 6-4, 6-1 victory one spot higher in the lineup for his fourth straight victory.
The Rebels took the next two points and the match with wins at the top and bottom of the lineup. First off, Gard (No. 6) defeated Mirzadeh (No. 30) on court one, 6-2, 6-3, before 109th-ranked Karim Ayali outlasted Sherry on six, 6-1, 7-6 (5) to clinch the match.
Ouellette picked up a point for the Gators on court two with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Claesson. The win was his 12th-straight improving his record to a team best 33-6 on the year and 15-3 in dual matches. Additionally, the UF freshman is the last Gator to keep his dual record against SEC opponents spotless as it stands at 10-0.
Obradovic closed out the match by coming up just short to Tveit (No. 124) on court three, 7-6 (1), 4-6 and 13-11 in a super tiebreaker in the third set.
Florida closes out the regular season on Saturday, April 16 at 2 p.m. with a match against No. 22 South Carolina in Columbia, S.C.
#7 Florida vs. #4 Ole Miss
Doubles
1. #35 Catalin Gard/Eric Claesson (Ole Miss) def. #22 Hamid Mirzadeh/Greg Ouellette (UF), 8-1
2. Erling Tveit/Fredrik Aarum (Ole Miss) def. Chris Brandi/Vladimir Obradovic (UF), 8-2
3. Nestor Briceno/Stefan Tell (UF) def. Bram Ten Berge/Jakob Klaeson (Ole Miss), 8-3
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2
Singles
1. . # 6 Catalin Gard (Ole Miss) def. #30 Hamid Mirzadeh (UF), 6-2, 6-3
2. #39 Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Eric Claesson (Ole Miss), 7-5, 6-3
3. . #102 Erling Tveit (Ole Miss) def. Vladimir Obradovic (UF), 7-6 (1), 4-6, 13-11
4. #124 Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Jakob Klaeson (Ole Miss), 6-4, 6-1
5. Juan Pablo Di Cesare (Ole Miss) def. #85 Chris Brandi (UF), 6-2, 6-1
6. #109 Karim Ayali (Ole Miss) def. Ryan Sherry (UF), 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Order of Finish – 5, 4, 1, 6, 2, 3
