For the second time this season, the No. 25 University of Florida men's tennis team picked up a win over an opponent ranked inside the ITA top 10 as the Gators held off No. 10 LSU, 4-3, Sunday afternoon in Gainesville. With the win, UF improved to 9-4 overall and 4-2 in Southeastern Conference play, while the Tigers slipped to 12-3 overall and 4-2 in the league.
“The doubles point was critical for us,” said UF head coach Andy Jackson. “LSU has one of the best doubles points and are just fabulous at it. It was a key to the match today. It was a great win. LSU is a top 10 team and in the upper echelon of the SEC. This will help with confidence, which we will need in our next match (at No. 11 Alabama), but that's the way it is with every sport in the SEC.
The doubles point came down the court three where UF's Geoffrey Barton and Nestor Briceno came back from a 7-5 deficit to defeat LSU's Kevin Dessauer and Jan Zelezny, 9-8 (3). The Florida pair of Greg Ouellette and Jesse Levine, ranked No. 6 nationally, picked up UF's other win on the doubles courts as they defeated Ken Skupski and James Cluskey (No. 14) on the top court 8-2. The win was the fifth over a ranked opponent this year.
UF became the third team this season to get the doubles point from the Tigers, which entered the match having won the point 12 of 14 times with two of its teams ranked inside the top 15 in the ITA doubles poll.
In singles play, LSU evened the score with Cluskey's win on six. Levine (No. 4) gave the lead back to the Gators with a 6-4, 6-4 win at the top of the over Skupski (No. 24). With the victory, Levine improved to 12-0 on the season (9-0 against ranked opponents). Skupski is also the sixth player who was an All-American in 2006 that Levine has defeated this year.
Kevin Dessauer (No. 111) and Jan Zelezny came away with wins on courts four and five, respectively, to put the Tigers on top for the first time of the match (3-2).
With action remaining on courts two and three, Florida would need victories on each to win the match. Briceno (No. 118 ) provided the first as he came back from dropping his first set to defeat Colt Gaston on court three (4-6, 7-5, 7-5). Seconds later, LSU's Danny Bryan (No. 44) withdrew from his match against Ouellette (No. 16) on court two as the Florida junior held a 5-0 lead in the third set. With the 6 (2)-7, 6-2, 5-0 win, Ouellette clinched the match for the Gators.
Florida takes to the road for the first time in 26 days as the Gators travel to Alabama for their next match against the 11th-ranked Crimson Tide on Friday, March 30 at 3 p.m.
College Men's Tennis
Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex
Gainesville, Fla.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Final Score: Florida 4 LSU 3
Doubles
No. 1 Greg Ouellette-Jesse Levine (6), UF def. Ken Skupski-James Cluskey (14), LSU, 8-2
No. 2 Danny Bryan-Colt Gaston (5), LSU def. Dan Cash-Billy Mulligan, UF, 8-3
No. 3 Nestor Briceno-Geoffrey Barton, UF, def. Kevin Dessauer-Jan Zelezny, LSU, 9-8 (3)
Singles
No. 1 Jesse Levine (4), UF def. Ken Skupski (24), LSU, 6-4, 6-4
No. 2 Greg Ouellette (16), UF def. Danny Bryan (44), LSU, 6 (2)-7, 6-2, 5-0 def.
No. 3 Nestor Briceno (118), UF def. Colt Gaston, LSU, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5
No. 4 Kevin Dessauer (111), LSU def. Billy Mulligan, UF, 6-4, 6-3
No. 5 Jan Zelezny, LSU def. Jordan Dolberg, UF, 7-6 (3), 6-3
No. 6 James Cluskey, LSU def. Dan Cash, UF, 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles – 1, 2, 3 Singles – 6, 1, 5, 4, 3, 2
END OF REPORT
