Florida Gators
NCAA Championships (Team) - Pepperdine
Florida Men?s Tennis Falls To No. 2 Pepperdine In NCAA Round of 16, 4-0
Saturday, May 20, 2006 | Men's Tennis
The run by the No. 16 University of Florida men's tennis team in the 2006 NCAA draw came to a close Saturday afternoon as the Gators were defeated by No. 2 Pepperdine, 4-0, in Palo Alto, Calif., in the Round of 16. UF finished its season with a 17-8 overall record after advancing to the final site for the fifth straight year and 13th time in the last 16 seasons. Pepperdine improved to 33-2 in advancing to the quarterfinal round.
“I was very impressed with Pepperdine,” said UF head coach Andy Jackson. “They won a tough doubles point and then ran us out of the match. They had leadership and discipline and were just better than we were. We made the doubles more important than we should have. By that, I mean they were tight and then played relaxed and very well in singles. We were able to do that during our first and second round matches at Oklahoma State. Today, we let it hang over our head. Again, I was impressed with the maturity of Pepperdine. They are one of a few teams that could win this.”
The two schools fought for a tough doubles point. UF struck first when Janne Holmia and Vladimir Obradovic defeated third-ranked Andre Begemann and Scott Doerner at the top of the order, 8-3, in 38 minutes. The win came against the highest ranked opponent any Gators double team has knocked off this year. The loss was the fifth the Pepperdine duo has suffered this season (24-5 overall).
Ten minutes later, Pepperdine's 47th-ranked Ivor Lovrak and Pedro Rico forced the issue when they defeated UF's Greg Ouellette and Chris Brandi, 8-2 on court two.
The match on court three could have gone either way before Pepperdine's Omar Altmann and Richard Johnson eventually broke UF's serve in the 13th game to go up 7-6 and go on to give the Waves the 1-0 lead with their 8-6 victory against Florida's Stefan Tell and Nestor Briceno.
With the momentum of the doubles point on their side, Pepperdine went on to win five of the first sets before closing out straight set victories on courts two, three and six.
The 2006 season was a successful one for UF which went 17-8 overall and 8-3 in SEC play to finish second in the league. In addition, the Gators continued their streak of appearing at the finals site of the NCAA team draw as Coach Jackson has guided the team to at least the Round of 16 each of his five years in Gainesville. Additionally, seven of Florida's eight losses this season came to top 10 opponents.
The Gators do have a pair of players with a least one more match left to play as Ouellette and Obradovic will take part in the NCAA singles draw, which begins on Wednesday. Florida has had to NCAA singles champions in its history (Mark Merklein in 1994 and Jeff Morrison in 1999). Ouellette (No. 52) returns to the singles draw after he was one of nine players nationally and one of two freshmen in the country to earn All-America honors in singles and doubles play in 2005. A season ago, he advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA singles draw before dropping a 6-4, 6-2 decision to eventual national champion Benedikt Dorsch.
Obradovic will be making his first appearance in the NCAA singles draw. He is currently ranked No. 38 nationally, which is his highest ranking of the season
May 20, 2006
NCAA Men's Tennis - Round of 16
May 20, 2006
Taube Tennis Center * Stanford, CA
Doubles
1. Janne Holmia and Vladimir Obradovic (F) def. Andre Begemann and Scott Doerner-3 (P), 8-3
2. Ivor Lovrak and Pedro Rico-47 (P) def. Chris Brandi and Greg Ouellette (F), 8-2
3. Omar Altmann and Richard Johnson (P) def. Nestor Briceno and Stefan Tell (F), 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles
1. Scott Doerner-8 (P) led Vladimir Obradovic-38 (F), 7-5, 2-3 -- DNF
2. Pedro Rico-31 (P) def. Greg Ouellette-52 (F), 6-2, 6-2
3. Ivor Lovrak-92 (P) def. Nestor Briceno-75 (F), 6-2, 6-4
4. Andre Begemann (P) def. Janne Holmia (F), 6-3, 5-2 -- DNF
5. Chris Brandi-82 (F) led Richard Johnson (P), 7-6, 1-1 -- DNF
6. Omar Altmann (P) def. Ryan Sherry (F), 6-3, 6-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, 6
Notes –
The Gators are 30-16 (.652) all-time in NCAA Tournament play since the event switched to a dual match format in 1977.
In the five years under head coach Andy Jackson the Gators are 10-0 in the first and second rounds combined and have outscored opponents 40-4.
Florida ended the year winning eight of its last 10 matches.
Since the expansion of the NCAA field in 1999 to 64 teams, UF is 4-3 all-time in the Round of 16.
