Florida Gators
Duke - ITA National Team Indoor Quarterfinals
No. 1 Florida Men?s Tennis Defeated By No. 9 Duke, 4-1
Sunday, February 19, 2006 | Men's Tennis
For the first time this season, the No. 1 ranked University of Florida men's tennis team was defeated as the Gators fell to No. 9 Duke, 4-1, Saturday in the quarterfinal match of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle.
Florida (6-1) faces No. 5 Ole Miss in the consolation bracket Sunday at 11 a.m. ET. A season ago, the Gators and Rebels were co-SEC champs with 10-1 league records. UF won the league title outright in 2003 and Ole Miss did so in 2004.
UF was making its sixth appearance overall and fourth consecutive in the quarterfinals of the event after taking out Pennsylvania on Friday, 4-1.
UF redshirt senior Chris Brandi provided the Gator point with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over Duke's Christopher Brown on court five. Brandi leads the Gators with a 7-0 dual match record this season. In addition, he owns a 3-1 career record at the event.
The Gator combination of senior Stefan Tell and sophomore Nestor Briceno picked up Florida's only win on the doubles courts as they defeated Duke's Ludovic Walter and Ned Samuelson, 8-5.
The USTA/ITA National Team Indoor Tournament began in 1973 and is the ITA's longest-running event. On nine occasions, the team that won the USTA/ITA title went on to win the NCAA title in May. There have been four times the USTA/ITA runner-up went on to win the NCAAs.
No. 1 Florida vs. No. 9 Duke
Singles
1 No. 9 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. Ryan Sweeting (UF) 6-3, 7-6 (6)
2 Greg Ouellette (UF) vs. No. 20 Jonathan Stokke (Duke), DNF
3 Peter Rodrigues (Duke) def. Vladimir Obradovic (UF), 4-6, 6-4, 6-0
4 Kiril Dimitrov (Duke) def. Nestor Briceno (UF), 6-4, 7-5
5 Chris Brandi (UF) def. Christopher Brown (Duke), 6-3, 6-0
6 Ryan Sherry (UF) vs. Ned Samuelson (Duke), DNF
Order of Finish – 5, 1, 3, 4
Doubles
1 Jonathan Stokke/Joey Atas (Duke) def. Ryan Sweeting/Vladimir Obradovic (UF) 8-6
2 Peter Rodrigues/Stephen Amritraj (Duke) def. Janne Holmia/Greg Ouellette (UF), 8-4
3 Stefan Tell/Nestor Briceno (UF) def. Ludovic Walter/ Ned Samuelson (Duke), 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
