Florida Gators
SEC Tournament - Tennessee
Florida Men?s Tennis Claims SEC Tournament Title With 4-2 Win Over Tennessee
Sunday, April 24, 2005 | Men's Tennis
The second-seeded and fifth-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the third time in school history as the Gators defeated fifth-seeded and 26th-ranked Tennessee, 4-2, Sunday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. With the victory, Florida moved to 20-5 on the year and earned the SEC's automatic invitation to the NCAA Championships marking UF's 15th consecutive trip.
"We are very excited to win and we were pushed by a great Tennessee team today," said UF head coach Andy Jackson. "It was important we challenge their great doubles teams in order to establish the way things would go in the singles. My hats off to the Volunteers, they played a great tournament and were outstanding. They will go far in the NCAA tournament."
UF's Ryan Sherry was named the MVP of the tournament after the redshirt junior clinched every match in the tournament for the Gators.
The title was the third for the Gators and the second for fourth-year head coach Andy Jackson who got his first while at Mississippi State in 1996. Florida first won the event in 1994 with a 4-3 victory over Mississippi State in Tuscaloosa, Ala. In 2000, UF used the same tally to edge Georgia in Starkville, Miss. This year's appearance in the finals was the second in three seasons for the Gators as UF fell to Vanderbilt, 4-1, in the 2003 tournament in Oxford, Miss.
The Gators have now won 15 of their last 16 outings as they earned their way into the title match with a 4-2 victory over seventh-seeded and 11th-ranked Kentucky on Friday before taking a scintillating 4-3 thriller over third-seeded and ninth-ranked Georgia in the semifinals.
The SEC Tournament title added another honor to an already successful season for the Gators. This year, the Gators won the SEC Eastern Division Championship for the third straight time and went 10-1 in regular season conference play to split the ninth SEC crown in school history with Ole Miss.
The men's tennis tournament title followed that of the UF women's team as the Gators defeated top-seeded and third-ranked Kentucky, 4-2, earlier on Sunday. The wins marked the second time in school history both teams won the event in the same year. Florida became the first school in SEC history to do so on more than one occasion after the teams took titles during their 2000 campaigns.
As was the case during the regular season match in Gainesville (4/3), Florida fell behind 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. In that meeting, the Gators went on to take straight set wins on each of the singles courts for a 6-1 victory.
At the top of the doubles lineup, Tennessee's 11th-ranked Ockie Oosthuizen and Ben Rogers teamed to defeat UF's tenth-ranked Hamid Mirzadeh and Greg Ouellette, 8-4, to get the Vols to within one win of clinching the point. Bobby Cameron and Kaden Hensel picked up the win Tennessee was looking for on court three as they got out to a 3-0 lead and held off Florida's Jordan Dolberg and Chris Brandi on court three, 8-5.
The loss of the doubles point left the Gators needing to come back on the singles courts for the second straight match and the seventh time on the season.
Briceno evened the match for the first time on the day with a straight set 6-3, 6-0 decision over Morgan Wilson on court four. The win was his seventh straight and brought his dual match record to 16-8 on the year.
Mirzadeh (No. 31) gave the Gators their first lead on the day with a straight set win of his own on court one over 58th-ranked Mark Dietrich (6-4, 6-4). Mirzadeh's victory was his seventh over a ranked opponent this year and his second over the Tennessee senior.
Oosthuizen tied the match at two with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win over UF's 103rd-ranked Vladimir Obradovic on court three. The loss was the first for Obradovic in the tournament and only his second in the last seven outings.
Ouellette got the Gators to within one of clinching the match by picking up his first win of the weekend in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win against Cameron on court two. Ouellette, the SEC Freshman of the Year, increased his overall record to 35-8.
"After an 11-0 regular season against conference opponents, Greg felt a lot of pressure in this tournament," said Jackson. "He got everything under control today and got it back when it mattered most."
Sherry got the Gators the victory with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win over Kaden Hensel at the bottom of the lineup. Sherry's win moved his record to a team leading 19-3 on the year as he has won 15 of his last 16 matches.
Florida now awaits the announcement of the NCAA 64-team field, which will be revealed on Wednesday, May 4. The Gators have received a bid every year since the NCAA expanded its field to 64 teams in 1999. Since the expansion, UF has hosted its first and second round matches every year since 2001. NCAA First and Second Round matches will be played May 13 through 15 on 16 campus sites, also revealed during the selection show. Winners of the second round matches advance to College Station, Texas, for the remainder of the Championships.
Florida vs. Tennessee
Singles
Order of Finish – 4, 1, 3, 2, 6
Doubles
Order of Finish - 1, 3
