Florida Gators
SEC Tournament - Georgia
Gator Men?s Tennis Reaches SEC Tournament Finals With 4-3 Win Over Georgia
Saturday, April 23, 2005 | Men's Tennis
The second-seeded and fifth-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team reached the championship match of the SEC Tournament for the second time in three seasons and the fourth time in school history with a 4-3 victory over third-seeded and ninth-ranked Georgia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. With the win, the Gators ran their record to 19-5 on the year and will meet Tennessee for the title on Sunday at 2 p.m. as the Volunteers upset top-seeded and third-ranked Ole Miss, 4-2.
"I've coached for 20 years and this is the best SEC tournament I've seen," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "This was a great win for us, and I'm glad we could do it. It was special with (former Georgia) Coach (Dan) Magill here. Tomorrow will be difficult. Tennessee has nothing to lose, and they're
playing well. We're going to have to fight or Tennessee will take it away from us."
Saturday's match against the Bulldogs was a rematch of the 2004 SEC Tournament quarterfinal match between the two programs where UGA came away with a 4-1 win in Nashville. The Gators have taken two straight matches against the Bulldogs since as Florida edged UGA 4-3 as well in the regular season meeting in Gainesville.
The doubles point continued to be an issue for the Gators as UF fell behind 1-0 with losses on the top two courts. During the regular season, UF went 6-5 for the point against SEC opponents. Florida had won the doubles in back-to-back matches entering Saturday. Georgia's third-ranked John Isner and Antonio Ruiz got the Bulldogs to within one of clinching the point with an 8-4 victory against Florida's tenth-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh and Greg Ouellette at the top of the order. Moments later, UGA led the match 1-0 as Strahinja Bobusic and Colin Purcell posted the same score against UF's Stefan Tell and Nestor Briceno on court two.
Florida dropped the doubles point against Georgia when the two teams met during the regular season in Gainesville, however, UF was able to come back for a 4-3 win on its home courts. On Saturday, UF won first sets on five of the singles courts before matches went to third sets on five courts where the Gators got the wins they needed to turn the trick again.
UF's Vladimir Obradovic (No. 103) evened the match with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over 86th-ranked Matic Omerzel. With the victory, Obradovic has won five of his last six outings as he improved to 21-12 on the year overall.
Ruiz (No. 72) gave the lead back to Georgia by outlasting Ouellette on court two, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5). The loss marked the first time Ouellette has not won in back-to-back matches on his career.
Chris Brandi (No. 90) tied the match for the second time on the day by outlasted Bobusic on court five, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. With the win, Brandi won his fifth match in the last six outings and his dual match record to 17-4 on the year.
Isner got the Bulldogs to within one of clinching the match when he won a 7-5 tiebreaker in the third set over Mirzadeh at the top of the order (6-7 (3), 6-2, 7-6 (5)). At that point, UF's Briceno and Sherry were holding to slight leads in third sets on courts four and six, respectively.
Briceno squared the match for the third time with a 6-7 (3), 7-6 (9), 6-3 win against Colin Purcell on court four. The win was the sixth consecutive for the UF newcomer.
For the second straight match, Ryan Sherry provided the clincher as he took a 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-4 win over Ricardo Gonzalez at the bottom of the order. His win increased his dual record to a team-leading 18-3 on the year. Sherry has won 14 of his last 15 matches.
"Me and (Georgia's) Ricky (Gonzalez) have played a lot in the past, so we know each other pretty well," said Sherry. "The match was back-and-forth and just a great match. This gives us great momentum heading into tomorrow's match with Tennessee. We would really like to add an SEC tournament championship to our regular season title (split championship with Ole Miss)."
Florida vs. Georgia
Singles
Order of Finish – 3, 2, 5, 1, 4, 6
Doubles
Order of Finish - 2, 1
