Florida Gators
Ole Miss - ITA Consolation
No. 1 Florida Men?s Tennis Slips To No. 5 Ole Miss, 4-2
Sunday, February 19, 2006 | Men's Tennis
The top-ranked University of Florida men's tennis team dropped a 4-2 decision to No. 5 Ole Miss in their consolation match at the USTA/ITA National Team Indoor
Championships in Seattle on Sunday.
With the loss, the Gators fell to 6-2 on the season after going 1-2 in the tournament with a 4-1win over Penn in the opening round Friday and a 4-1 loss to No. 9 Duke in Saturday's quarterfinals. This year marked the fourth straight and sixth overall UF advanced to the quarterfinal round.
UF fell behind 3-0 before making up ground with wins on courts two and three, however, the match ended when No. 26 Erling Tveit outlasted UF's Ryan Sweeting on the top court, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4). At the time of the end of the match, UF's Chris Brandi was also in a third set on court five trailing 6-3, 4-6, 3-4.
Today's meeting was a rematch of the quarterfinals in the same event a year ago in Chicago where the Rebels took a 4?-1 victory. The two squads went on to become co-SEC champions with 10-1 conference records in 2005. UF won the title outright in 2003 and OIe Miss did so in 2004.
UF takes the next week off, before hosting the Rebels in a critical match in this season's conference race. Both will be looking to get league play off strong when they meet in Gainesville on Friday, March 3 at 3 p.m.
Florida fell behind early Sunday when the double point continued to be an obstacle. Junior Janne Holmia and sophomore Greg Ouellette forced the issue to the top court with their 8-6 win over Bram Ten Berge and Jakob Klaesson on court two. However, Sweeting and senior Vladimir Obradovic pushed 40th-ranked Tveit and Eric Claesson but fell short (9-7).
Ole Miss built the lead to 3-0 with victories on courts four and six before Obradovic (No. 90) picked up a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 win on court three against Berge (No. 83). The win was the highest ranked opponent Obradovic has defeated during the dual match season. Ouellette got the Gators to within one when he knocked off Claesson (No. 22) one court higher in the lineup, 6-4, 7-5. Claesson was the second ranked foe Ouellette has defeated this dual match season.
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. 5 Ole Miss
Singles
1 No. 26 Erling Tveit def. Ryan Sweeting (UF) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
2 Greg Ouellette (UF) def. No. 22 Eric Claesson (Ole Miss), 6-4, 7-5
3 No. 90 Vladimir Obradovic (UF) def. No. 83 Bram Ten Berge (Ole Miss), 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
4 No. 43 Juan Pablo Di Cesare (Ole Miss) def. Nestor Briceno (UF), 6-3, 6-1
5 Chris Brandi (UF) vs. Robbye Poole (Ole Miss), 6-3, 4-6, 3-4 DNF
6 Jakob Klaesson (Ole Miss) def. Ryan Sherry (UF), 6-2, 6-2
Order of Finish – 4, 6, 3, 2, 1
Doubles
1 No. 40 Erling Tveit/Eric Claesson (Ole Miss) def. Ryan Sweeting/Vladimir Obradovic (UF), 9-7
2 Janne Holmia/Greg Ouellette (UF) def. Bram Ten Berge/Jakob Klaeson (Ole Miss), 8-6
3 Juan Pablo Di Cesare/Robbye Poole (Ole Miss) def. Stefan Tell/Nestor Briceno (UF), 8-6
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
