Florida Gators
NCAA Team Championships (Second Round) - Florida State
Men's Tennis Comes Back To Defeat No. 16 FSU In NCAA Second Round, 4-3
Saturday, May 12, 2007 | Men's Tennis
After falling behind, 3-0, the No. 19 Florida men's tennis team picked up wins on each of the remaining to courts to defeat No. 16 Florida State, 4-3, in the NCAA second round match Saturday afternoon at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center in Tallahassee, Fla. With the win, UF advanced to the final site of the NCAA Championship for the sixth-straight season and the 14th time in the last 17 years.
“We fought hard and so did they,” said UF head coach Andy Jackson. “We barely got this one today and it could have gone either way. Now we are on to Athens for the Round of 16. Honestly, when we feel behind 3-0 I knew we were still in it. I thought if we kept our nerve and kept pushing good things might happen. We've been in the same situation a few times this season, but this is by far the biggest.”
The win marked the third time in the last five years that UF (15-7) ended FSU's (17-10) run in the NCAA tournament. On the two meetings prior to Saturday in the event the Gators shut out the Seminoles (2003 second round, Gainesville, Fla.; 2005 quarterfinals, College Station, Texas).
Florida moved on to play in the Round of 16 against No. 1 Georgia (28-0), which defeated No. 29 Auburn late Saturday night, 4-0. The host site for the Round of 16 through the championship is Athens, Ga. Florida's match will be on Thursday, May 17 at 6 p.m.
Florida State got the early 1-0 lead by getting the doubles points with wins on the two and three courts. UF's lone doubles win came at the top of the order where third-ranked Jesse Levine and Greg Ouellette held off FSU's 20th-ranked Jonathas Sucupira and Sam Chang, 8-5. The win was the 11th straight for the Gator pair and moved their record to 18-2 on the year.
Singles play saw the Gator deficit increase to 3-0 when the Seminoles won on courts four and six. From there, the Gators began the comeback when Ouellette (No. 21) had a straight set victory over (No. 123) Jean Yves-Aubone on court two (6-4, 6-2). The victory was the 84th of Ouellette's career moving him into a three way tie for sixth on the UF career singles chart (Olivier Levant and Gary Finnegan).
Levine (No. 3) drew the Gators closer with a straight set win of his own on the top court against 78th-ranked Ytai Abougzir, 6-2, 7-5. Levine kept his record perfect on the season (21-0), and is now 16-0 against ranked opponents.
Nestor Briceno evened the match for the first time on the day as he edged Sucupira in the first set, 7-6 (3) and won the second set on court three, 6-2. Briceno won his sixth straight match as his record improved to 16-5 in dual matches.
The match came down to the No. 5 court where Jordan Dolberg squared off against Maciek Sykut. Dolberg dropped the first set, 4-6, before coming back to take the next two 6-3, 6-2, to clinch the team victory.
“It is what you play for,” said Dolberg. “I knew it was coming down to me and I was confident that if I kept fighting we'd get the victory. We are riding high right now and the team is excited. We're ready to go to Athens.”
2007 NCAA First Round
Tallahassee, Fla.
May 12, 2007
#19 Florida vs. #16 Florida State
Doubles
1 (3) Greg Ouellette-Jesse Levine, UF, def. (20) Jonathas Sucupira-Sam Chang, FSU, 8-5
2 Ytai Abougzir-Bradley Mixson, FSU def. Nestor Briceno-Geoffrey Barton, UF, 8-5
3 Maciek Sykut-Jean Yves-Aubone, FSU def. Jordan Dolberg-Dan Cash, UF, 8-3
Singles
1 (3) Jesse Levine, UF def. (78) Ytai Abougzir, FSU, 6-2, 7-5
2 (21) Greg Ouellette, UF def. (123) Jean Yves-Aubone, FSU, 6-4, 6-2
3 Nestor Briceno, UF def. Jonathas Sucupira, FSU, 7-6 (3), 6-2
4 Sam Chang, FSU def. Billy Mulligan, UF, 6-2, 6-1
5 Jordan Dolberg, UF def. Maciek Sykut, FSU, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
6 Chris Cloer, FSU, def. Dan Cash, UF, 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish
Doubles: 1, 2, 3 Singles: 4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 5*
Florida Match Notes:
The Gators moved to 32-16 (.666) in NCAA tournament play since 1991.
In six seasons under head coach Andy Jackson the Gators are 12-0 in NCAA first and second round matches and have outscored opponents 48-8.
The Gators are 27-1 in six seasons under head coach Andy Jackson against in-state opponents. The loss came in the 2007 regular season meeting with Florida State on February 17 in Tallahassee. In that meeting, the Gators fell 4-3. Florida State got the doubles point with wins on courts two and three and got points on the four, five and six singles courts.
Florida State was the tenth top 25 opponent the Gators have faced this season (based on ranking at time of match). This season, UF defeated No. 2 Baylor (4-3), No. 10 LSU (4-3) and No. 16 Alabama (4-3). UF also beat Tennessee this season, 4-3, which was ranked No. 38 at the time of the match and is currently No. 25.
This is the second straight season UF advanced to the Round of 16 and did not host. In 2006, the Gators came out of the Oklahoma State regional to earn a trip. A season ago, the Gators were the only team in the country that was the lower ranked team that had to travel for the first and second rounds to advance to the Round of 16 by shutting out its first and second round opponents (4-0, vs. Western Michigan and Oklahoma State).
UF head coach Andy Jackson has advanced to the NCAA final site 16 of the past 17 years (10 at Mississippi State and six at Florida).
